Some Tea Between Friends
by SecondSeraphim
Summary: A lot can happen over a cup of tea, as these two shall soon find out. Keitaro/Kitsune pairing, NOT a Naru bashing fic.
1. Tea Between Friends

A/N: _Hello, SecondSeraphim here to tell everyone about my new fanfiction, Tea Among Friends. Yes I know it's a stupid title, but sadly thinking up titles has never been my strong point when it came to writing. Anyway, this is a Keitaro/Kitsune fic set right after Keitaro told Naru that he loved her after breaking his leg. For the most part it uses manga continuity, but if I make any mistakes please point them out me ok? Enjoy._

Some Tea Between Friends

A Keitaro/Kitsune fanfiction

By SecondSeraphim

Contrary to popular belief, Kitsune didn't enjoy being a drunk. It consumed all her money, it lessoned people's image of her, and it caused fights between her and her best friend who was only concerned about her health. On the upside it made her forget that she didn't have any money, made her not care what people thought about her, and helped her ignore arguments had with best friends.

_This_ was the reason why she had drunkenly stumbled up the steps and through the front door of Hinata-Su at nearly two in the morning. She was about to make her way up the stairs to her room when she heard a noise coming from the kitchen. A moment later a head popped out.

"Kitsune? Is that you?" Keitaro asked. Giving her a once over he frowned and asked if she was ok. Embarrassed at being caught, she glanced down at herself. Dressed in a skimpy grey top and tight fitting jeans, she looked like she was out for a good time.

Ironically enough she _had_ gone out looking for a good time, just not the same kind most people would assume from looking at her.

Even though she had looked her best going out, she suspected that the excessive drink she had consumed that night had done its part in making her look even more like the slut everyone thought her to be. Ironically, the only reason she had gone out that night was because of accusations of that very nature, from someone she had _thought_ to be her friend (and knew, deep down, still was). And yet now, here she was drunk as whistle, with that very person's love interest asking her if she was ok after she stumbled in at two in the morning.

Realizing how she must look and smell, she suddenly found herself wishing he wouldn't looking at her. The thought of what she must look like to him made her sick to her stomach.

No wait...that was the alcohol...

Pushing by him she made a run for the nearest bathroom, making it just in time to vomit in the toilet instead of all over the floor. Letting loose, she emptied her stomach of most of the night's toxin, plus that day's dinner.

It was several minutes before she was able to stand, and it was then that she noticed that Keitaro had been standing behind her, holding her hair.

"You..you don't need to hold my hair for me. It's why I keep it so short in the first place." she told him. As one who often came home drunk, she had realized that having short hair was just plain practical for someone who spent as much time as she did bent over a toilet seat.

Letting go of her and stepping back, he asked if she was ok.

"Yeah," she answered, standing up. This proved the be a mistake however as another bout of queasiness hit her causing her to drop back to the ground and empty out the rest of her dinner and drink. Keitaro didn't hold her hair this time, but instead placed his hand on her shoulder for support, and when she was done helped her stand slowly.

"Can you walk on your own?" Keitaro asked her. Glancing at him out of the corner of her eye, Kitsune nodded. "I think so."

And so he let her go. She must have been more out of it than she thought, because almost immediately after he had let go of her she began falling down. Rather then the hard floor hitting her though, a pair of arms wrapped themselves around her stopping her midfall. "I gotcha." he grunted out, pulling her to her feet. Kitsune knew better then to argue. The two began making their way out into the hallway; a feat complicated by her intoxication and his broken leg. Still, they managed to make it out into the hallway. Kitsune was about to insist that he allow her to make her way to her room alone when he started pulling her toward the kitchen instead. When she pointed this out to him he smiled at her.

"You need to get some liquids into your system after all that vomiting Kitsune. Otherwise you'll get sick."

Grunting in acknowledgement, she allowed him to guide her to the kitchen table, where he turned to get her a cup for her tea. Glancing at the table as she sat down, she saw that it was covered with various papers and an open book.

"You were studying this late?" Kitsune asked her landlord.

"Yeah," he replied without looking up, "Couldn't sleep." he turned and set the cup in front of her before sitting back down in front of his books.

"I should leave then." she said, ignoring the cup and standing up the best she could. She was stopped from moving by Keitaro's hand on her sleeve.

"Please, stay." He begged. "I could use the company. Plus you really need to drink something before you go to bed."

"But you need to study..."

"I can finish tomorrow," was his reply.

"I don't want your pity" Kitsune said weakly. Keitaro looked at her in surprise.

"I don't pity you Mitsune" he said, using her real name in place of her nickname. Kitsune let out a short laugh, stopping when it sent a wave of pain through he head. Seeing this, Keitaro pushed the cup of tea closer to her. Glaring at him slightly, she nonetheless returned to her seat and accepted the cup, downing it in almost one gulp. Without missing a beat Keitaro moved to refill it for her.

"Sure you do", she said after taking a sip of the second cup. "Why wouldn't you?" she asked bitterly, "Everyone does. I'm a drunk after all." She took another sip. "Good tea by the way."

"And I'm a clumsy pervert who's flunked the Todai enterence exams three times. Nobody's perfect." he replied, ignoring her attempt to change the topic. He took a sip of his own cup, then glanced at it in amusement before setting it down.

"What's so funny?'

"Not as good as Shinobu's" he replied, gesturing toward his cup. Kitsune stared at him for a moment before breaking out into a laugh, a real one this time. One that surprisingly didn't leave her feeling as if she had been hit in the head with a hammer.

"What's so funny?" Keitaro asked, looking slightly hurt for a moment, before splitting into a grin a moment later.

"Sorry, sorry," she managed to get out, "It's just that...I've never known anyone able to avoid a change in topic _and_ flow with it at the same time. You surprised me. Not many people can."

"I've noticed that" he answered dryly, before breaking into another grin. A moment later the grin left his face to be replaced by a look of seriousness.

"I might not pity you Kitsune, but I do worry about you. All that alcohol can't be good for you."

"Probably not," Kitsune replied shrugging, "We each gotta die someday, I'm just choosing the way I go out."

"Personally I'd rather go out running from the cops then stepping into the hangman's noose." Keitaro replied back to her. "Not that I intend to go anytime soon mind you. And you shouldn't either.

"Keitaro please," Kitsune interrupted, "I hear enough of this from Naru and Motoko. I don't need to hear it from you too."

"They only do it because they care about you." Keitaro said, standing up to wash the now empty tea cups and pot, "And I do too. I'm not asking you to stop drinking. I'm just asking you to be careful, maybe cut down a little." Giving her a brief hug as he passed her, he was just about to turn the water on to do the dishes when she spoke.

"Why?"

Keitaro paused, his hand halfway to the faucet. "Why what?"

"Why do you care about me?"

Keitaro put another pot on to boil and sat back down.

"Because you're my friend and a good person." He answered, placing his hands over hers and looking her in the eye. Kitsune tried her best to find a hint of a lie or an ulterior motive in his face, but found none.

"How can you so that? How can you believe something like that? On what basis could you possibly say that I'm a good person?"

"Am I wrong?" he asked?

"Yes!" she yelled at him, slamming her hands on the table and standing up quickly. She immediately regretted it as a wave of nausea passed over her. Sitting back down she rubbed her head. A moment later she looked back up at Keitaro.

"I'm a drunk, a trickster and a thief. I spend all my money of sake and horses, and most of _yours_ for that matter. In the whole time you've been here I haven't _once _paid my rent on time, instead opting to spend it on more cheap, useless sake!" Totally spent, she waited for his response, positive that he would agree with her. So it was to her surprise when instead of yelling at her he stood and walked over to the sick to get a paper towel, pausing to take the new batch of tea off the stove. Returning to the table he sat in the chair next to hers and took her face into his hands, wiping the tears off her face.

She hadn't even known she's been crying.

By the time he was finished wiping her eyes she had calmed down somewhat from the previous outbreak. Pouring herself a cup from the new pot, she took a sip and was about to apologize for it when Keitaro spoke first.

"Your not wrong," he began, making her freeze as his words hit her heart. "But..." he continued, making her look up, "you're not right either."

"What?" she asked, her voice cracking. "What are you talking about?"

"You are a drunk." he stated simply, "You are a trickster. And you are a thief," he said. "But!" he said on seeing her face, "you forgot one thing."

"What?" Kitsune asked, not sure if she wanted to hear the answer or not. Keitaro leaned in closer to her, causing her to subconsciously lean in as well.

"You admit it."

"...what?"

"You admit it. You admit to being a drunk. You admit to being a trickster. And you admit to being a thief." He leaned back in his seat. "And as long as you can acknowledge it, admit to it, you can change it. You can stop being a drunk, a trickster, and a thief." He smiled and gave her a V for victory sign. Kitsune ignored it though and merely stared at him. After a few he started getting worried, but his fears were laid to rest as she finally spoke.

"You...you really think I can change?"

"Of course." he answered smiling. Then he signed and leaned back in. "I didn't say it will be easy. It will be very hard, and there will be slip-ups. But I think you can do it, as long as you have friends there to support you."

Upon hearing this Kitsune looked at his face, searching, almost desperate to find some hint of an ulterior motive, some proof that he didn't really believe what he was saying.

She found none.

He had looked at her, and seen not the sex object or lazy bum that most people see but had seen her. Not Kitsune, the fox. Mitsune Konno, the person.

"Keitaro..."

He had seen her flaws, her imperfection. But they didn't matter to him, they were impertinent. How she was didn't matter, what mattered was that she could change.

And he had used reverse psychology, the oldest trick in the book, to get her, the trickster, to admit it.

"...how the hell did you get so smart?"

"Hey, you're looking at a Todai student remember." he answered, beaming proudly.

"One who hasn't even attended classes yet if I recall." she shot back at him. She regretted it instantly however as she saw the look that crossed his face.

"Oh honey, I'm sorry I shouldn't have said anything." She apologized to him, "I know how important getting in to Todai was for you, and I'm sorry you haven't been able to attend classes yet." She said sincerely. Caught of guard at her apology, Keitaro laughed.

"No, it's ok. I mean I can deal with taking a little break from studying anyway, so it's not the end of the world."

"Oh?" Kitsune asked, amused at the way Keitaro was rubbing the back of his head. "Well, you wouldn't think so with the way you and Naru have been...acting lately..." she finished as she noticed the look on Keitaro's face when she said Naru's name. It had only been for a fraction of a second before the mask was firmly back in place. Anyone else would have missed it, but Kitsune had experience with this sort of thing and had seen it at once.

"Keitaro..." Kitstune spoke slowly and carefully, "Did something happen between you and Naru?"

For a brief moment Keitaro froze, then he lowered his arms with a sigh and picked up his tea as if he was going to take a drink, but instead just held it. With another sigh, he put the cup back down and covered his face with his hands.

"Keitaro..."

"I told her that I loved her."

Kitsune froze, unsure if she had heard right. "You what?"

"I told her that I loved her." he repeated, sitting up again and looking at her. He expected to be laughed at by the foxlady, or hit even though he had never known her to hit him before. He certainly didn't expect the reaction that he _did _get.

"Well about time!" Kitsune exclaimed leaning over and slapping him on the back. "I was worried you'd never get around to it. Where'd you do it? _When'd_ you do it. What did she say?"

"At the hospital on the day I broke my leg." he answered, hoping she wouldn't notice that he had neglected to answer the last question. As usual luck wasn't with him.

"Keitaro...what did she say?" Kitsune asked him, a look of worry crossing her face. "She didn't...she didn't reject you did she?" she asked, wondering if her friend could possibly be that stupid. As Keitaro shook his head no, Kitsune let out a sigh of relief before realizing that she still didn't know what had happened.

"But...if she didn't say no...she said yes?" Kitsune asked, confused over why this would be bad news. When Keitaro shook his head no again it only served to confuse her further.

"Well, what _did_ she say?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing?" she asked, not understanding.

"Nothing." he repeated. "Not a thing. She just left."

Suddenly, understanding hit Kitsune. And with it, anger. "She...she didn't..."she mumbled, but inside she knew that she did. Her friend, Naru Narusegawa had had a kind loving man open his heart to her and instead of dignifying it with a yes or a no had simply walked away, as if what he had done didn't even matter.

"That...that..."

Kitsune didn't want to call her friend that. But there were no other words for what she had done.

"That BITCH." she practically snarled, perhaps a little too loudly as Keitaro clamped his hands over her mouth. "Shhh! Quiet, you'll wake everybody up!" he explained, letting her go. She was half tempted to do just that, bringing them all downstairs so that she could reveal to the other girls just what their friend had down to their manger's heart, dragging Naru downstairs by her hair if she had to. She could just imagine the look of disgust that would have been their faces as they heard what she had done.

But she knew that Keitaro would never forgive her for doing something like that to her, plus there was always the likelihood that either Naru or Motoko would come down to investigate her scream, see her and Keitaro in the same room together, and jump to the wrong conclusion before sending their kanrinin skyward once again.

No. She won't let that happen to him ever again. No more calling him a pervert either. He was much to nice a guy to go through the crap that those two put him through. Not that she and Su were that innocent either. Sure, Su _meant_ well, but she still needed a talking to, and she herself had taken advantage of their kanrinin's kindness too often.

'_No more...'_ she told herself, _'we _all _need to stop. Pretty much the only one of us who never took advantage of him was young Shinobu,' _she mused. If their resident cook had only been a bit older she would have given Naru a run for her money. Sadly, time was against her. She knew that if Keitaro had confessed his love to her, Shinobu would have said "yes" immediately.

It was then, to her shock, that Kitsune realized that she might have as well.

She shook herself out of her musings to notice Keitaro sitting there looking at her with a worried look on her face. Realizing that he must have had asked her a question, he shook herself again before asking him to repeat himself.

"I asked if you were ok." he explained.

"I'm alright. Just...kinda angry at Naru right now," she said,thinking something else. _'Downright pissed is more like it'._

"You shouldn't be. It's my fault for saying anything in the first place and-"

"NO! This was not, I repeat NOT your fault Keitaro, do you understand me?" she demanded, grabbing hold of his shirt. All he could let out as a response was an "epp!" Letting him go, she sat back in her chair and leaned back for a moment before leaning forward to look at him again. "Listen to me. You did nothing wrong. You love Naru. You told her so. She ignored you. It was HER who messed up this time, NOT you. You got that?" To her relief, he nodded.

"Keitaro, despite what you and everyone else tells you around here you are a very bright, very handsome young man. You are allowed to have feelings without being called a pervert."

"You, you think I'm handsome?" he asked, not sure he had heard her right. Kitsune inwardly frowned; she had said handsome hadn't she? Still, she stood by it.

"Yes, you are. And if you had told _any_ of the other girls here that you loved them, each and everyone of them - and me - would have at least had the decency to give you an answer, whether it be yes or no or even I don't know. And I know for a fact that _several_ of the girls here would have answered yes."

By the time she had finished her rant, Kitsune was panting. Moving to take a sip of her tea, she realized that it had gotten cold. Worse, to her horror she realized that she had become sober, and the hangover was beginning to set it. Glancing at the clock, she was horrified to see that they had been talking well into the morning.

Seeing her put her cup back down without taking a sip, Keitaro realized that it must have had gone cold and moved to heat it up. Before he had even left the table though Kitsune had stopped him with her hand on his shoulder

"It's alright, I need to get to bed anyway. And you need your rest as well if you want that leg healed up." She said to him. He nodded. "Just let me wash the dishes real quick, then I can walk you up to your room ok Kitsune?" he asked.

Kitsune almost snorted. Here he was, with a broken leg, offering to walk her to her room. He truly was one of a kind. And, to be honest not that bad looking either. Suddenly the image of a muscle-bound, shirtless Keitaro popped into her head, causing her to blush.

'_Naru honey, you really are an idiot'_

"Sure thing." she said out loud, standing up and helping him carry the cup to the sink. While he washed them she stood alongside the sink leaning on the counter, deep in thought.

After a few moments Keitaro cleared his throat, breaking her from her concentration. "Er, Kitsune?"

"Yeah Sugah?

"Um, remember when you said that all of the girls here would give me a yes or no answer?" He asked nervously. Kitsune didn't catch the nervousness in his voice, so involved in her little fantasy was she.

"Sure, what about it?"

"Well, uh, I was just wondering...what _you_ would have answered."

Her eyes snapped open, the fantasy gone.

"What would I have said? Um...I don't really know." she admitted after a moment. Sure, she liked the landlord well enough, and there had certainly been the occasional fantasy, but did she love him? She just didn't know.

If he was unsatisfied with the answer she gave he didn't show it. Instead he simply finished washing the dishes and laying them out to dry over night. Turning toward Kitsune, he held her arm out to her and the two of them began to slowly make their ways to their rooms.

Pausing in the hallway in front of their respective rooms, Keitaro was about to enter his when Kitsune stopped him.

"Um, Keitaro?"

"Yes?" he asked, turning toward her, one foot already in his door.

'_Would you like to come into my room for a bit?"_ she wanted to ask. Instead she asked a different question. "Do you really think I can stop drinking? That I can change?"

He smiled at her. "Only if you do." And with that he stepped inside and closed his door.

A/N: _Well, he begins my first Love Hina fanfiction. In all the Kitsune/Keitaro fics I've read so far it usually has her noticing his problems and deciding to take in interest in his life, so I thought I'd do it the other way around. Well, that's what I intended anyway but it seems that it turned around on me mid chapter. Oh well. Drop me a review and tell me what you think. By the by, could someone tell me how old Shinobu would be during this time? _

_Also, I do not have a beta. I need one._


	2. Cold Turkey

A/N: _The Universe hates me. There is no other possible explanation why every time I sat down to work on this story something would pull me away before I made any headway. But finally, here it is, nearly two weeks past when I had intended to get it updated. Hopefully the next chapter won't take as long. I was a bit impatient getting this out so I didn't get it beta'd, but if I get to many mistakes pointed out to me I'll replace it with a beta'd version._

_One more thing I need to point out. Someway, somehow while I was writing this chapter I forgot that Keitaro and Naru were already in Todai during the first chapter and wrote this one with them still studying to get in. I did my best to correct my mistake, and hopefully I didn't let anything slip but incase I did and the continuity is messed up just slip me a pm so that I can fix the problem. Really, I don't know what I was thinking making a mistake like that but oh well._

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Some Tea Between Friends

By SecondSeraphim

Chapter Two: Cold Turkey.

Hangovers sucked.

This was a lesson learned by Kitsune more than once. Yet, somehow she always ended up forgetting it again later, whenever the thirst started to burn. After all, what's a little pain later for a little pleasure now?

Despite these thoughts, Kitsune couldn't seem to get Keitaro's words from the previous night out of her head. It wasn't like she hadn't of heard the "drinking is bad for you" speech before, in fact she heard it from Naru almost every day. But for some reason this one she felt compelled to listen to.

'_You admit it. You admit to being a drunk. You admit to being a trickster. And you admit to being a thief. And as long as you can acknowledge it, admit to it, you can change it. You can stop being a drunk, a trickster, and a thief._

"_Do you really think I can stop drinking? That I can change?"_

"_Only if you do."_

Maybe it was because he had told her that she could stop drinking rather then tell her that she should? Maybe it was because he showed belief it her rather then disappointment?

Maybe it was because he had a cute butt?

'_Where did _that_ thought come from?'_ Kitsune asked herself.

It wasn't that she thought Keitaro ugly, far from it. In fact he would be kind of cute without the glasses; heck he was cute even _with _the glasses. But he was Naru's. And she couldn't do that to her best friend. She would step aside just like she had done with Seta, just like she had done to any number of boys in high school.

But what it Naru never pulled her head out of her rear end and realized what was in front of her? What then?

Well, only time would answer that question.

Speaking of time...

Despite it being long past two by the time she had gotten back to her room, Kitsune found to her annoyance that she just couldn't sleep. Keitaro's words were two busy buzzing around the inside of her head, keeping her awake.

She eventually did fall asleep, but even there she did not find sanctuary from his voice. Only now it was accompanied by the images of a muscle-bound shirtless Keitaro from before saying the words and sweeping her off her feet.

That part of the dream wasn't that bad actually.

Sadly, that slumber was not to last. She had awoken up the next morning to find to her disbelief and annoyance that it was still rather early; indeed, it was long before Shinobu or even Motoko would be up, Shinobu to cook and Motoko to train.

And worse, she had the _mother_ of all hangovers. If she didn't know for a fact that Sarah was currently with Seta, she would have sworn that the diminutive terror had been hitting her on the head with artifacts.

'_Maybe Su snuck in here and played kickball with my head or something...'_

Muttering over the fact that she had gotten only a few hours of sleep, she rolled over an attempt to fall back to sleep; she regretted it instantly, as the sudden movement caused her hangover, which was bad enough as it was, to kick in at full power.

'_Why...WHY do I keep doing this to myself...'_ She wondered. Of course, that just made her manager's words pop fresh into her mind once again. Trying the best to ignore it, she continued to try and fall back asleep.

Sadly, as Kitsune found out over the next half hour, sleep was to be as elusive for her now as it had been the night before.

Deciding to give up, she took another look at the clock to decide if it was to early to get up or not. Seeing that it was almost time for Shinobu to awaken and make breakfast, Kitsune decided to give the diminutive chef a break.

When Shinobu entered the kitchen nearly fifteen minutes later to start breakfast, Kitsune was almost done cooking the eggs, bacon, and pancakes she had decided to make.

"Kitsune?" Shinobu asked in surprise. "What are you doing?"

"Morning Sug," Kitsune replied, "I woke up early this morning and thought I'd give you a break and make breakfast for everyone." She frowned. "I should a thought to turn your alarm off so you could sleep in. Sorry bout that."

"No, that's fine," Shinobu insisted stepping closer to watch, and, Kitsune suspected, to make sure that she didn't mess her kitchen up. Apparently deciding that Kitsune was doing well enough and that there was no imminent danger of something happening to her kitchen, Shinobu smiled and asked if she needed any help.

"Could you be a dear and put the coffee on? I should have done it when I put the tea on but it plain skipped my mind."

Shinobu nodded and turned to do as asked. After completing her task, she turned back to face Kitsune. "You know I didn't know you could cook."

"Well, I don't ever really have a reason too Shinobu. I actually just know what I learned from a cooking class I took a few years back for an article I was writing. And chances are my skills have gone down somewhat; like I said I haven't really had a reason to practice in a while," Kitsune gave a smirk. "In fact if I remember right the last meal I cooked was the day before you moved in Shinobu." she said, causing the younger girl to blush. "I guess I haven't really needed to since then, since the stuff you make is so much better."

"Tha-thank you," Shinobu stammered out, her blush growing bigger at the praise she was receiving. The two talked about cooking after that, discussing whatever Kitsune could remember from her lessons and sharing favorite recipes. To Kitsune's surprise she enjoyed the conversation a lot more than she thought she would, and before the two of them knew it the food was done cooking.

Just in time too. Not long after they had finished splitting the various items among individual plates Naru walked down the stairs; a still sleeping Su hanging from her back.

"Remind me again, when is Motoko coming back?" She asked, sounding exhausted, and rightly so. Their resident swordswoman had left two days previous to attend a training camp and wouldn't be back till the next day, leaving Su in need of a temporary sleeping partner. Normally she would have just slept with Keitaro in the event of Motoko being gone, but the girl had shown a surprising amount of maturity in response to Keitaro's broken leg and decided that it might not be in his best interest of his health for him to be her partner, at least not till he was better. Unfortunately, that left her, Naru, and Shinobu to pick up the slack as it were, and the three of them had been trading the girl off nightly. Shinobu had bravely taken the first night and Naru the second, leaving her to take the third.

'_I am NOT looking forward to tonight.'_

Sighing, Shinobu turned and pulled a banana out it. Turning toward Su, she said "Look, a banana!" before tossing it in the air; Su, who had woken up the moment Shinobu said the word "banana", jumped off of Naru and caught the desired piece of fruit out of midair. Once finished, she tossed the peel behind her without looking; it landed at the bottom of the stairs.

"Su!" Kitsune admonished the girl. "You shouldn't just leave banana peels lying around the place like that. What if someone were to slip on it?" she said, thinking of a certain ex-Ronan in particular.

Apparently, Kami decided to mock her that day, as no sooner had she said that did Keitaro come limping down the stairs. "Morning all," he called.

Later on Kitsune could have sworn that it had happened in slow motion. As expected, Keitaro's foot came down on the banana, he slipped, and started to fall forward. Kitsune allowed her eyes to travel the path the man would take while falling, widening when she realized just where he would land. She moved forward to intercept, but was of course, too late. She, along with everyone else in the room (save Su, who was eating like there was no tomorrow) froze as they saw where he had landed.

Keitaro, meanwhile, found his head buried in what felt like a pair of extremely soft pillows...of course, it didn't take him long to figure out what they were. Looking up, he was terrified to see the face of Naru stairing back at him.

"YOU PERVERT!" She screamed, swinging her arm forward before Kitsune could stop her. As the fist made contact with Keitaro's face he found himself flying out the room and through the front door of the Hinata.

"Lousy pervert..." Naru muttered, turning back to the table to eat. Kitsune just stood there in shock, staring out the door after Keitaro. Eventually she managed to turn back toward the table, where Naru sat eating her meal, not a care in the world.

"Why?" she asked the woman. Not receiving an answer, she asked again. "Why, Naru?"

"Huh?" the brunette asked. "What was that Kitsune?"

"Why did you hit Keitaro?" she demanded, louder this time. Everyone, including Su, stopped eating to watch the confrontation; Shinobu with wonder in her eyes, Su with confusion in hers.

"Kitsune what are you talking about? He was being a pervert again."

"Stop calling him that!" she snapped, causing the brunette to flinch. Kitsune took a deep breath to calm herself before she did anything she would regret. Like picking up a certain woman and throwing her off the roof of the Hinata for example.

"Naru, I hate yelling at you but don't you ever _think_ before you act? The man slipped on a banana peel for crying out loud," she said, pointing to the peel in question. As Naru's gaze followed her finger, a blush appeared on her cheeks. "Well, even if he did trip he had no reason to grab my breasts on the way down." she said indignantly, to Kitsune's disbelief. What did it take to get through this girl's head?

Shaking her head at Naru and resisting the urge to punch her as hard as she could (ultimately, it was the thought of what Keitaro would say that convinced her not to), Kitsune sat down at the table and began to eat, but not before entering the kitchen and making up a second plate of food for Keitaro, seeing as Su had set upon his plate the moment he left the building.

Returning to her seat, Kitsune was momentarily distracted by when she caught sight of Shinobu's appreciative, yet questioning gaze. Winking at the cook, she resolved to have a talk with her about Keitaro later to explain why she was acting how she had been. After all, for the fox to defend their kanrinin was an oddity at best, and Shinobu was smart enough to realize that either something had happened, or that Kitsune was up to another one of her games.

Taking a bite out of the food she had prepared that morning Kitsune cringed; her cooking wasn't that bad but when compared to what Shinobu could create it was downright...well, plain. Shinobu would certainly make a good housewife someday...or maybe a restaurant owner. This line of thought drew her back to the conversation the two of them would have to have later, but before Kitsune could fully think of what to say to the blunette what was left of the front door opened and Keitaro walked back in, his hair full of leaves. Upon seeing him enter Naru put down her chopsticks and stood up.

"I need to go study. If any of you _girls _need me I'll be in my room." she stated, an annoyed look on her face. Keitaro, Kitsune, and even Shinobu flinched at Naru's use of the word 'girls' (Su, of course, was still eating and wasn't paying any attention.) It was clear what she meant; he wasn't welcome there.

Keitaro opened his mouth to speak but before he could say anything Naru had stormed out of the room, book in hand. Letting out a dejected sigh, he sat down and began to eat his breakfast, only to find that Su had eaten it sometime while he was walking up to stairs. Rolling his eyes at the hyperactive girl, he was about to give up and go get to his managerial duties when to his surprise a second plate was placed on top of the first one. Looking up he found Kitsune winking at him.

"I made you up a second plate when I saw Su go for yours," she explained. Keitaro gave her a thankful grin, then began to eat.

Taking his first bite though, he frowned. "Hey Shinobu, did you try some new spices or something? Breakfast tastes different then it usually does."

Shinobu blushed. "Er, I didn't cook breakfast today Sempai..." she said, mumbling at the end.

Keitaro frowned. "You didn't?" he asked, and Shinobu shook her head. Wondering who had made the meal, he quickly counted off the residents in his head.

'_I still have taste buds left, so it wasn't Su...and the food looked good, so it wasn't Naru...Motoko isn't here, and besides even if she was the food here actually has a fat content so it couldn't have been her...but that leaves-"_

"Kitsune?" he asked in surprise, turning toward the blond, "You can cook?"

"Ah _do_ have talents other than writing and looking sexy ya know." Kitsune replied, feigning hurt. She had decided not to trick Keitaro out of his money, not to stop teasing him, and if she knew him right then the last thing he would want to do is cause any of them harm.

True to his character Keitaro started panicking.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to imply that you couldn't cook, I just didn't know that you could! I mean, its just that you never do and-not that I'm saying your lazy or anything! It's just that the food was so good that I thought...uh, not that I think you cook bad food! Its great, really, better than Shinobu's! Right, no that's not what I meant either Shinobu's is still way better! Er, not that yours sucks or anything its just that...just that...oh I don't know what it is!" he said exasperated, and positive he had managed to insult at least one, if not both, of the girls' cooking skills. He wasn't even sure just _why_ he had brought up Shinobu's cooking in the first place; comparing two friends was never a good idea.

To his surprise though neither of the girls looked angry at him; on the contrary both of them had their hands in front of their mouths and were giggling furiously. Seeing that he had stopped rambling Kitsune calmed down enough to speak.

"Don't worry Kei, I wasn't expecting my food to be as good as Shinobu over there. I'm just glad no one got food poisoning or anything."

A loud clatter came from the other end of the table as Su put down her plate and jumped up from the table. "Come ons Shinomu's, we ares going to be late for school!" she exclaimed, grabbing hold of the cook and pulling her up the stairs toward their respective rooms.

"Gah, Su! I need to do the dishes!" Shinobu nearly shouted, struggling to hold on to the kitchen's doorframe as Su tugged on her. Kitsune waved her off. "Don't sweat it Shinobu, I'll take care of them today."

"Are you sure?" Shinobu asked, and when Kitsune shook her head yes she let go of the wall and allowed Su to drag her up the stairs. A moment later the two of them ran back down them with the addition of school bags (well, Su was running, Shinobu was flying), and a moment later the two had gown out the door, leaving the two adults the only ones left in the kitchen.

Both Kitsune and Keitaro blinked. The whole thing had takes less then five seconds.

After another five second had passed Kitsune stood up. "Er, I guess I better get started on these dishes huh?"

"Do you need any help?" Keitaro asked, taking one last bite and standing up as well. Kitsune waved him off.

"No no, you have plenty of work to do. I can handle a few dishes, you go do managerial stuff and whatnot."

Nodding, he walked off leaving Kitsune standing their. Letting out a small sigh at the number of dishes on the table, she pushed up her sleeves and got to work.

To her surprise, it didn't take her nearly as long as she thought it would to finish off the dishes, and didn't take all that much energy either. Maybe there was something to this "manual labor" thing everyone else was always going on about after all.

Nah.

Having nothing else to do for the rest of the day, and having decided she wasn't in the mood to write anything until her headache finished clearing up, she decided to check the horse races. To her disappointment though she found that all of the races that day had been canceled due to inclement weather. Swearing softly to herself, she instead considered going to take a bath in the hotsprings when she realized that Keitaro would most likely be cleaning it right now. And while she usually wouldn't mind giving the young landlord an eyeful and a nosebleed, the Naru punch that would most likely follow immediately afterward put a damper on her spirits.

Naru. That would be another problem that Kitsune needed to deal with. She had decided, at some point, to do anything within her power to stop the kanrinin's accidents, but she was only the cause of so much and while she knew she could keep from adding to the pile there were still the others to deal with. Shinobu, she knew wouldn't do anything to hurt her Sempai; in this she was Kitsune's greatest ally. Su meant well, but didn't really understand what she did wrong when she kicked/blew up/stuck her panties in the fact of Keitaro. But both Motoko, and maybe even more so Naru, wouldn't hesitate to punished the 'pervert' for any perceived transgressions. Directly questioning the two would prove fruitless; as Motoko's honor and Naru's righteousness would prevent them from even considering that they were in the wrong. So an indirect attack would be best.

But an indirect attack requires information, and it was because of this that Kitsune found herself in front of Naru's room five minutes later, knocking on the door.

"Come in", came the reply from the other side. Kitsune slid the door open and stepped in.

"Hey Naru, got a minute?"

She looked up from her book in surprise. "Oh, it's you Kitsune. I thought it was that baka coming to apologize."

'_What for?'_ Kitsune thought to herself, but didn't voice out loud. Instead she said, "I doubt he'll be up for a while, you did make it plenty clear he wasn't wanted."

"Whatever," Naru muttered, returning her gaze to her book. Kitsune couldn't help frown at her friend's uncaring attitude; a frown that Naru missed as she was busy focusing on a particularly nasty math problem.

"Well, either way you probably should let him off the hook soon so that you two can study together tonight." She said, which caused Naru to snort.

"I don't know why I even bother studying with him. Hard a time as he had getting _into_ Todai, I doubt he'd be able to stay in for long before he flunked out. It's just impossible."

That comment surprised her. "You think he'd flunk out?"

"That baka? The day he does well in Todai is the day you stop drinking."

Kitsune blinked. "You don't think I can quit drinking?"

"What? I only meant that I don't think it's very _likely _for you to stop. I mean, you do really like sake and everything." she replied, not really paying attention to the conversation she was so focused on her math book.

"Really. Cause I'm pretty sure you said that it was _impossible_ for Keitaro to do well in Todai, and since you think he'll do well when I stop drinking, it must be _impossible_ for me to quit drinking."

Realizing her mistake, Naru tried to apologize. "Sorry, what I meant was-", she began before Kitsune interrupted her.

"Yeah, I know what you meant Naru. I'll talk to you later." she said, standing up from where she sat and sliding the door open. She quickly stepped out and shut the door before Naru could see the tears in her eyes.

'_Dammit...I go to try and talk to her about Keitaro and end up getting chastised for drinking. And for her to really think that I can't quit if I wanted to..."_ she thought to herself, before remembering how wasted she had been the night before when she had come home and run into Keitaro in the kitchen. This only served to strengthen her resolve however. She _would_ quit drinking, for herself and to prove to Naru that the 'impossible' could happen.

But she couldn't do it alone, she would need help. And she knew just where to get it.

--

Winching slightly when Kitsune slammed the door shut Naru bit her lip as she tried to decide what to do. She really hadn't meant to hurt her friend's feelings, and she really did think Keitaro could do well if he really tried...she just didn't think he would ever really tried.

Deciding to go apologize, she stood up and made her way to the hallway where the found that Kitsune had already left, and where to she didn't know. She debated for a moment over whether it would be better to track her friend down now and apologize or to return to her studying, and maybe ask her why she acted like she did during breakfast, but decided that there was too big of a chance of running into a certain you-know-who to risk looking for her. So instead she decided to get back to studying and to apologize when she next saw her friend; perhaps at lunch.

It was a decision that she would come to regret.

--

After leaving Naru's room Kitsune had made her way down the stairs and past her room to stand in front of the manager's room. So angry over her conversation with Naru was she that she began banging on the door as hard and as fast as she could, waiting impatiently for Keitaro to open it. So engrossed was she in beating the door to a pulp she didn't even notice when Keitaro pulled the door open; at least, not until after she had hit him.

"Ow!" he exclaimed stumbling back and clutching his nose. "What was that for?"

Kitsune sweatdroped. "Eh, sorry about that. Ah guess I should have been more careful. You ok?"

"Yeah, don't worry about it," Keitaro reassured her. "Did you need something?"

"Eh? Oh! Yes, I was hoping you could help me in my room with something?"

Keitaro frowned. "In your room?" he asked confused. A moment later a small trickle of blood dripped from his nose. Upon seeing it Kitsune panicked.

"Gah! I broke your nose!" she exclaimed, waving her arms around ala Shinobu, eyes spinning in her head. "I'm so sorry Keitaro, I didn't mean to hit you!"

"Huh?" Keitaro asked, not completely getting what Kitsune was talking about at first. When he felt the blood drip unto his lips though he understood. "Oh! No, no, you didn't break my nose! I was just uh...thinking perverted thoughts..." he mumbled the last part so that Kitsune wouldn't hear him. Unfortunately, she did.

"Oh, I see. Well, we might have some time for play later," she said, winking at him suggestively, "but right now I've got some work for you to do," she added, grabbing hold of his wrist and pulling him next door into her room. "Ok, see all this alcohol?" she asked. It would've been pretty hard for Keitaro not to have seen it, it covered all of the walls and most of the floor.

"Er, yeah? What about it?"

"I want you...to help me throw it all away!" Kitsune exclaimed melodramatically.

Keitaro just stared at her.

"What? Why are you looking at me like that?

"Your getting rid of all your alcohol? All of that sake and beer and wine? Not to mention the champagnes, the vodkas and the whiskeys?" Keitaro asked, not quite sure he was understanding her. Was she getting rid of it as in moving it from her room to somewhere else? Or did she mean to drink it all? She couldn't mean throw it all out could she? Rather than clarify though Kitsune just nodded at him, leading Keitaro to believe that, for some reason unimaginable to both gods and men, Kitsune really did mean to throw it all out. That just left one question left...

"Why?"

"Well," Kitsune began, "I was thinking about what you said the other day, about how you knew I could stop drinking if I wanted to? And I decided that I did want to. I'm stopping cold turkey."

"Really?"

"Yep."

"Huh. I guess I'm a better motivational speaker than I thought."

"So? Will you help me?"

"Yeah," Keitaro replied, having started getting used to the idea. "Yeah, I'll help."

"Great! So...what should we do first?" Kitsune asked him. "Well," he had replied, "I guess we start with a trash bag."

And so the next couple of hours were spent gathering up all of Kitsune's "supplies" and dumping them into a large trash bag that Keitaro had brought up from the janitor's closet. When they had finally finished the bag was just about full to burst, and as Keitaro and Kitsune looked around her now nearly empty room they both came to the same conclusion. It was Keitaro that voiced it.

"You know, you really don't own that much."

"Oh, shut up and help me drag this to the dumpster."

It took some imagination and some teamwork but the two of them finally managed to get the bag out the door and down the stairs, broken leg and all. It was very slow going and there were several times it felt as if the bag would break, leaving them both a very large mess to clean up. Finally though, they were at the bottom of the steps and now only needed to get the bag into the dumpster.]

Now if only they could figure out how to lift it that high...

"So..." Kitsune began, "Now what?"

Rather than answer her, Keitaro grabbed hold of the bag and lifted as high up as he could. "Get under there and hold this up," he told Kitsune who complied, the weight from the bag resting on her back. Readjusting his arms so that he would have a better grip, Keitaro bent down and began to lift the bag the rest of the way, motioning to Kitsune to slowly stand up so as to push the bag up.

"Heave...ho!" Keitaro shouted as the two of them shoved the bag over the edge. After catching her breath Kitsune turned to Keitaro, an obviously fake look of hurt on her face.

"Who are you calling a ho?" she asked. Rubbing the back of his head, Keitaro was saved from answering by a familiar voice coming from behind them.

"What are you two doing?" the voice asked. Turning, the two of them spotted Keitaro's 26 year old cousin turned aunt walking down the steps toward them, her trademark cigarette hanging from her mouth.

"Hey Aunt Haruka!" Keitaro exclaimed, followed by an "Ow!" as Haruka hit him in the head with her magically appearing then disappearing fan.

"Don't call me aunt. Now then, what are you two up to?"

"Oh, Kitsune decided to stop drinking so we just through away all of her alcohol." He cheerfully answered, while beside him Kitsune made the V for victory sign. Closing her eyes for a moment Haruka took a long smoke of the cigarette before she spoke again.

"I see. And did either of you two geniuses think to try to _sell_ all of that alcohol?

Her question was met with silence as the two 20 year olds realized what they had done.

Haruka sighed. "I didn't think so. Doesn't matter to me either way, it's your money Kitsune, you can waste it if you want to. Just make sure you have enough for rent when it comes due." she said before turning and walking back off toward the Tea House. Kitsune and Keitaro turned to look at each other, and once again it was Keitaro who voiced what both of them were thinking.

"Maybe we should pull it back out?" he suggested, and Kitsune nodded. The two of them turned back toward the dumpster...

...just in time for the dump truck to finish dumping it.

As the two of them stared at it in pure disbelief, Kitsune slowly brought her hands up as if reaching at something. "My babies..." she moaned.

"Er, I'm sure all of the bottles are still ok." Keitaro said, only to be proven wrong the next moment when the inner machinery of the truck activated, smashing everything inside. Keitaro flinched and Kitsune dropped to her knees, both arms outstretched now. "My babies..."

"Er, well, it's fully possible for at least _some_ of the bottles to have survived that."

Just then, for good measure, a random guy popped out of nowhere and tossed a lit match into the back of the truck, igniting and destroying whatever remained of the drinks.

"...never mind."

"My babies...."

It wasn't until after the flaming truck had driven off that Keitaro and Kitsune snapped out of their daze, and by then it was nearing lunch time.

As the two of them began to make their way up the stairs toward the Hinata House, Kitsune turned toward Keitaro. "You know, I want to thank you for helping me do this Kei. I know you had a lot of other things you could be doing right now." Leaning over, she placed a quick peck on the side of his face. "That's for helping me."

"No problem," he replied, blushing fiercely, "although in retrospect it might not have been the best idea to just throw it all out like that at once."

"What do you mean?" Kitsune asked, frowning. "Do you think we should have sold it like Haruka suggested?"

"No, not that, though that might have been a good idea. It's just that I can't imagine that stopping cold turkey is going to be easy. You probably should stop slowly instead."

"Na," she replied waving him off, "I can handle it, you'll see. I don't need alcohol."

* * *

A/N: _Ok ok, I know I promised no Naru bashing, and I know it looks like I spent an entire chapter bashing Naru, but let me explain. The reason there is Naru bashing at the beginning is because well, Naru is a jerk...at the beginning. As the story progresses, her relationship with Keitaro will improve, though this IS a Kit/Kei fic so it won't be moving past friendship. It's just that now some tough love is needed you know? Actually, I had an idea to make this a Keitaro/Kitsune/Shinobu fic, and I'm thinking of running with it._

_I hope I'm not advancing things to quickly or anything...this is my first LH fic, and I'm constantly worried I'm advancing things to quickly..._

_I hate Motoko. Not her personally, I think she's a great character when used correctly, the problem is I just can't seem to write her right. I've got her away for now, so I've got a little time before I have to use her, but I will eventually need to include her in the story._


	3. Feeling the Effects: Part 1

A/N: _I did it. I did it! I UPDATED THIS STORY!!! In between work, the flu, and getting my power knocked out I was beginning to think I'd NEVER get this thing done. Well, here you are. Love Hina belongs to some guy who isn't me, yadda yadda, on with the story._

Tea Between Friends

By SecondSeraphim

Feeling the Effects Part 1

Lunch was a pretty pleasant affair all things considered. Su had appeared only for a moment to grab a plate and stuff it with as much food as she could before running back to her room with it, laughing manically the whole time. Motoko was still at her camp, and Naru had left for her classes, the girl passing Kitsune and Keitaro on their way back up the stairs. The temperamental girl had intentionally avoided looking at them, and after she had passed Kitsune found herself shaking her head.

"That girl..." she mumbled to herself.

"Eh? What was that Kitsune?" Keitaro asked, causing her to blink.

"Oh, uh...forget it." she said, waving him off. Smiling to herself, she then grabbed hold of his sleeve and started pulling. "Come on, lets get back to the dorm."

With his two self appointed punishers missing and the girl who liked to _**use**_ him as a soccer ball otherwise occupied, Keitaro found himself enjoying a nice lunch with the remaining two Hinata girls, Kitsune and Shinobu. The resident fox had teased the young domestic endlessly on this, and had even offered to eat elsewhere so that the cook could enjoy a private meal with her Sempai. The girl had of course started blushing at this and quickly stated that there was no need for such a thing...though the look that adorned her face clearly showed that she wasn't nearly as adverse to the idea as she claimed. Before she could pursue the matter any further however Keitaro had gotten onto her for teasing Shinobu, which had of course made the girl blush an even brighter shade of red.

Which, of course, Keitaro was entirely oblivious to.

And so the meal had commenced, the three of them sharing whatever chit chat they had to share. Shinobu was pleasantly surprised that Kitsune had decided to give up drinking, and had promised to do everything in her power to support her. Kitsune__on her part was surprised to learn that Shinobu had managed to bring her grades up another notch thanks to her Sempai's tutoring, to which Keitaro insisted that it was entirely because of her hard work. This of course had invariably led to them going back and forth insisting that the other one was responsible which might have gone on for some time had Kitsune not put a stop to it.

Once that loop was over the three found themselves talking about this and that, nothing overly important. Kitsune had to admit that it was nice, having just a few people around the table to talk to. With the table at it's usual fullness it was somewhat hard to have a conversation, what with so many energetic people in once place.

That and it was somewhat hard to have polite conversation when dead drunk.

Deciding to forgo desert, Kitsune had excused herself so that she could go work on her latest article...and so she could tease Shinobu more later. She _was_ eating dessert alone with Keitaro after all.

Pulling her word processor up she began work on her new article, a review of a local restaurant that she had happened to stumble across. Actually it was a bar that also happened to serve food, but the food was so good that Kitsune had advised the owner to think about transitioning from a bar that had food to a restaurant that had beer.

Yes, despite the less than pleasant atmosphere the place had been so great that Kitsune had felt compelled to do an article about it, and work had initially started well.

That is, until the headache came on.

Yes, the effects of withdrawal were beginning to set in. Kitsune had had headaches from being sober before, but then she'd always just drown them out__by drinking again. With that no longer an option, Kitsune realized for the first time just how bad it could get. She had managed to keep writing for a little while, but as the day wore on Kitsune's need for a drink grew, and less and less was she able to concentrate on her paper, finally giving up and closing her laptop with a tad bit more force then was strictly necessary.

Deciding that what she needed was a quick dip in the springs to calm down, Kitsune was about to head down when a quiet knocking was head at her door (quiet to most people, way too loud under the circumstances.) Trying her hardest not to rip the head off whoever it was, Kitsune opened the door.

Apparently with a little too__much force, if the squeak coming from Shinobu was any indicator.

"Er, sorry Shinobu," apologized Kitsune feeling guilty for scaring the girl. "I guess I don't know my own strength."

"Oh, that's ok Kitsune-sempai...I just came up to tell you that dinner was ready..."

Kitsune glanced behind her at her clock. "Er, I bit early for dinner isn't it?"

Shinobu "eeped" and then covered her face with her hands. "I'm sorry Kitsune-sempai, I tried a new recipe and it got done faster then I thought it would..." she quietly apologized, causing Kitsune to frown.

"Hey now, nothing wrong with that. 'Sides, I was getting a bit hungry anyway," She assured her, patting her on the head. "You need me to go get Su for you?" She asked her, to which Shinobu shook her head. "She's down there already." Seeing Kitsune frown, Shinobu smiled. "Don't worry, Sempai is with her, plus I promised to make her a special dessert tomorrow if she promises not to touch the food until we're down there."

"Well, Su does like your desserts, though we still better not push it huh? She might forget before we get back." Kitsune said, stepping out of her room and sliding the door shut. "While we're on the topic of desserts," she began as the two of them made their way toward the dining room, "how was dessert with Keitaro today?" she asked. Not receiving a reply she glanced over at the girl and was met with a bright red blush.

"It was good." she whispered, and slightly louder, "Thank you for that."

Kitsune paused, momentarily taken aback by the girl thanking her but recovered before Shinobu could notice.

"Er, no problem sugah," she answered. Before she pursued__the topic further the two of them reached the dinning room, where Keitaro sat waiting at the table and across from him sat a fidgeting Su, trying her hardest not to pounce on the meal sitting in front of her. Seeing the two enter the room she started waving at them. "Hurry and sit down so Su can eat!"

Winking at the young girl who had come down stairs with her, Kitsune slid into the seat next to Su leaving the seat next to Keitaro open for Shinobu.

The girl looked like she was about to faint.

Sliding into the seat next to her precious Sempai, she did her best not to look at him for fear that it would make her faint. Instead she focused her attention on the Fox sitting directly across from her, who simply looked back, a smile on her face at how Shinobu looked. For Shinobu was looking at the Fox with a face that was a mixture of eternal gratitude to Kitsune for placing her in such a situation and pure disbelief that Kitsune would put her in such a situation.

Shinobu was broken from her train of thought by a pair of chopsticks poking her from across the table. Following the chopsticks to their source Shinobu found herself looking into the smiling face of Su.

"Hey Shinobu, can Su eat now?" she asked hopefully. Shinobu glanced toward the front door. "Well, I was hoping Naru-sempai would be back by now..."

"Don't worry Shinobu-chan I set aside a plate for her in case she comes in too late." Keitaro added. Nodding, Shinobu went ahead and gave everyone permission to dig in before herself reaching for her chopsticks.

Chucking at the blonde gaijin's appetite, Kitsune reached for her drink and froze at the sight of the tea that Shinobu had poured for her.

'_Ok Kitsune, you can do this.'_ she told herself. The problem, as it was, was habit. She'd had tea with breakfast and lunch before sure, but this was dinner. The time of day in which she seriously started getting her drink on, rather then the casual drunkenness that she maintained throughout the rest of the day.

This would be the first time, in a long time, that she wouldn't be having sake with dinner.

It felt..._wrong_ somehow.

"You ok Kitsune?"__Keitaro asked, seeing her pause. Startled, Kitsune gave him a weak smile.

"I'm alright honey," she answered before turning her attention back to her drink. Picking it up, she took a sip.

Keitaro had turned back to his own food when her heard the sound of a cup hitting the ground. Glancing up at Kitsune along with the other residents at the table, they were surprised to her sitting there, the dropped cup laying on the table and a blank look on her face.

"Eh, Kitsune? Are you sure you're ok?"

"I need sake..." she whispered so quietly that the residents weren't sure they heard her.

"What was that?" Keitaro asked, asking her to repeat herself.

Not a good idea.

"I need sake!" Kitsune screamed, jumping up from the table and making a run for the door. As she passed Keitaro she felt a heavy weight on her person; glancing down she saw that Keitaro had wrapped himself around her legs.

"Let me go!" she yelled, struggling against him. Kicking him in the head, she was slightly surprised when he lost his grip on her but recovered quickly and resumed her race for the front entrance. Just as she was about to make it however she felt herself being knocked down again as Shinobu tackled her.

"I'm sorry Kitsune-sempai but it's for your own good!" she shouted, doing her best to hold the other woman down. Which would have failed actually, had Shinobu not had a certain secret weapon on her side.

"Su! Help!" she called over to her blonde haired friend. Jumping up from the table with a salute, Su jumped the distance across the room and landed on Kitsune's back, wrapping all four limbs around the woman and pinning her down.

Letting go of Kitsune now that Su had her pinned down, Shinobu rushed to make sure her Sempai was alright.

"Sempai? Are you ok?" she asked, poking at him. With a groan he rolled over.

"Woman should play soccer with a kick like that..." He mumbled sitting up. "Did we catch her?" he asked, to which Shinobu nodded and gestured over at the two. Kitsune had by now given up against the superior strength of the younger girl and was simply laying there as Su held her down. Gesturing to Su to let her go, the three of them marched Kitsune back to her chair and sat her down before returning to their own seats and facing her.

"Well?" Keitaro asked after a moment. "What do you have to say for yourself?"

"I'm sorry guys, I just freaked. This is my first major meal without drinking, and I guess I just lost it," she admitted, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly then cringing at the wave of pain__that passed through her head. Seeing her cringe, both Keitaro's and Shinobu's demeanors softened a bit (Su had already returned to eating).

"It's ok Kitsune, you knew it wouldn't be easy. It's understandable to make a mistake or two at the beginning," Shinobu said, causing the others to look at her.

"Er, thank you Shinobu," Kitsune said, causing the heart of the Hinata to blush. "You're right, a mistake or two at the beginning isn't that big a deal. As long as I do my best is what matters the most!" she exclaimed, "Now, if y'all will excuse me for a bit, I think I'll go get something other than tea to drink," she said, slipping into the kitchen. Sitting back down, Keitaro was about to resume eating when a gasp from Shinobu caught his attention.

"My cooking wine!" Shinobu exclaimed, turning and running into the kitchen. Frowning at her empty seat, it took Keitaro a moment to figure out what the girl was talking about. When he did, he let out a groan and followed as fast as he could with his cast.

"Foods gonna be cold by the time we get to it..." he mumbled to himself. "That or Su will have eaten it all..."

Shinobu entered the kitchen to find Kitsune struggling with the lid of bottle that Shinobu usually kept in the back of the refrigerator for cooking purposes. The elder girl froze at the sight of the younger.

"Oh...hey Shinobu...I was just uh, well you see..."

She ran for it.

She might have gotten away with it to, if not for two things. For one, while Shinobu may not have been the most athletic person at the Hinata the time she had spent running away combined with the chores she did at Hinata had given her the speed and endurance that a track star would kill for. And as for the second reason, this was her kitchen. She had spent enough time stopping Su from stealing food over the course of her stay, not to mention the pure amount of time she spent in there cooking for the residents, to know the room like the back of her hand.

The point is, there was no way Kitsune was getting away.

Slamming into Kitsune as she attempted to run by her Shinobu snatched the bottle from her hands. Turning away from the fox she moved to pour the drink out the sink, only to find her legs captured by the older woman. Kitsune, for her part was holding on for dear life.

"Let go!" Shinobu yelled, struggling to break free.

"Give me the bottle!" Kitsune yelled back, doing her best to keep her hold. Just the kitchen door opened and Keitaro stormed in, tripping over Kitsune's body and hitting his head on the counter on his way down.

"Sempai!" Shinobu yelled, kicking free of the dazed Kitsune, who let out and "oof!" as Shinobu's foot made contact with her face. Pulling herself free from the unconscious manager, she grabbed back at the girl's feet to get a better grip. Doing her best to stay free, Shinobu grabbed at the first weapon she could find just as Kitsune leaped at her to try and take the bottle from her...only for Shinobu to hit her in the face with a frying pan.

When Kitsune came to a moment later, Shinobu was busy pouring the contents of the bottle down the kitchen sink. Letting out a moan of disappointment as the last of the fluid drained away, Kitsune stood up and rubbed the front of her head.

"Jeez Shinobu, you should try out for your school's baseball team with a swing like that," she said, winching at the pain. "I can't believe you hit me!"

"I'm sorry Kitsune Sempai," Shinobu said, throwing the empty bottle away, "But it was for your own good." She gave Kitsune a disapproving glare. "And I can't believe you would try such a thing!"

"He he. Well, you did say a mistake or two was ok. I guess that was strike two?" she asked sheepishly, at which Shinobu could not help but chuckle. Moving past Kitsune, Shinobu knelt down next to her Sempai and poked him. "Sempai? Are you ok?"

Keitaro groaned. "What hit me?" he asked, standing back up with the help of Kitsune and Shinobu.

"Er, gravity?" Kitsune replied, before launching into an explanation of what had happened.

When she was finished Keitaro gave a chuckle. "Figures. If you girls beating me up isn't enough, I have to go and do it my self."

Kitsune felt a pang__of guilt at Keitaro's words, but before she could say anything Shinobu spoke up. "Perhaps we should get back to dinner before Su eats all the food?"

"Oh man, you're right!" Keitaro exclaimed, grabbing hold of his crutch and making his way back into the dinning room. Kitsune was about to follow when she felt a small tug from Shinobu on her sleeve. The bluenette waited for the door to finish shutting after Keitaro left then turned to Kitsune.

"You know something, don't you?"

Kitsune blinked "About Naru and Keitaro?" she asked, to which Shinobu nodded. Biting her lip for a moment, Kitsune came to a decision. "I'll explain everything later, ok?" she asked the girl. Shinobu studied Kitsune for a moment before nodding, apparently having found no sign of deceit. Letting go of Kitsune, the two of them made their way back to the table and retook their seats. Keitaro glanced at Kitsune, curious as to what had taken so long.

"Girl talk" Kitsune replied to the unasked question, causing Keitaro to pale and return his attention to his food. Kitsune almost chuckled; the best way to get Keitaro to not ask about something was to label it "girl talk".

Shinobu was pleasantly surprised to see the majority of the food still on the table, and Su fidgeting in her chair, the plate in front of her empty, though everyone else's plate was still full.

"Su? You didn't eat all the food?"

Su nodded. "I controlled my appetite and didn't touch anyone else food." she replied, her stomach growling slightly at having eaten only one plate. "Are you proud on me Shinomu?"

"Yes Su, very proud," she answered, honestly proud of the girl for working on her manners.

"Proud enough for Su to get a reward?"

"I suppose..." she answered, not sure where Su was going with this.

"Like maybe Shinomu making her super secret banana flavored dessert tonight instead of tomorrow?"

'_Ah, so that's it',_ Shinobu thought. "Help me with the dishes after dinner and then we'll get started on it."

"Yippee!" yelled Su throwing her arms up in the air in joy. Just then her stomach growled again, louder than before. "Su is still hungry..."

Smiling at her friend, Shinobu scooped another ladle full of food onto Su's plate. The blonde smiled. "Thank you Shinomu!" she yelled before diving back in.

Just then the sound of the front door opening could be heard followed the next moment by Naru's voice.

"I'm home everybody," Naru said as she took her shoes off by the door. Walking into the dinning room she paused as she saw everyone already eating. "You all started without me?"

"Gomen Naru-sempai" Shinobu hastily said standing up and bowing to her senior. "The food was finished early and I didn't want it to get cold...I hope you don't mind..."

"No, that's fine," she added, eying who it was Shinobu was sitting next to. "I just need to run my bag up to my room and then I'll be down to join you." she said, turning to leave. Pausing at the stairway, she turned back toward them. "And keep your hands away from Shinobu you pervert!" she shouted.

The sound of a face fault could be heard from__miles around.

Recovering from it, Keitaro glanced behind himself for a moment, a troubled look on his face. This was interrupted by a pair of hands placed on top of his in comfort. Glancing back at the table Keitaro found both Kitsune and Shinobu holding his hand, a surprised look on each girl's face as they looked at each other.

Before anyone could say anything however Naru stuck her head back in the room, both girl's hands pulling back just in time to avoid being seen. "Oh hey Kitsune, before I forget I was wanting to apologize for what I said this morning. It was thoughtless of me."

"And what exactly are you apologizing for?" Kitsune asked. _'Like I don't know',_ she thought to herself. Naru would apologize for the alcohol comment, after all Kitsune was her friend and you should always apologize to your friends. But the comment about Keitaro would have been forgotten, and Naru would see no reason that she'd have to apologize for such a thing.

And sure enough Naru did not disappoint.

"About the drinking, why was there something else I needed to apologize for?" she asked, a confused look on her face. Deciding that starting an argument right now wouldn't be the best option, she waved her off. "No, that's it I guess. It's a good thing you are apologizing by the way, since I'm in the middle of proving you wrong."

"Huh?"

"I haven't had a drop to drink all day. I've given up alcohol." she stated proudly, choosing to ignore the fact that not ten minutes ago she had been trying to break her "diet" already.

"What? Really?" she demanded, to which Kitsune nodded.

"Yep."

"Wow," she began, "That's...that's really stupid."

The room froze. Even Su stopped eating and put down her chopsticks to watch the drama unfold.

"What?" Kitsune asked coldly, sending shivers down the spine of everyone in the room save Naru, who seemed oblivious to the sudden drop in room temperature. Anyone touching Kitsune right now wouldn't be surprised to see that she was physically shaking with rage.

"It's just, you know dangerous. You could die from that."

If the room wasn't already frozen, it would be now.

"What?" Kitsune demanded, all coldness now gone from her voice. "What are you talking about?"

"Alcohol withdrawal. It's really dangerous to just stop drinking cold turkey, you're supposed to slowly stop, over how long a period I'm not sure. Otherwise you can get real sick and die." she stated plainly. "I learned about it in my Biology course," she added, turning back and continuing the journey to her room. The room remained frozen for several more seconds before Shinobu finally broke the silence.

"Die?" the girl whispered.

Broke from her spell, Kitsune spun around, her eyes full of panic. "I need sake!" She practically screamed, and with that the dinning room exploded as the residents leaped from their seats and began running around looking for something for Kitsune to drink. Su disappeared off to her room, and Shinobu ran into the kitchen while Keitaro remained behind in an attempt to keep Kitsune calm.

"Kitsune, you need to calm down."

"I'm going to die..." she moaned.

"I said calm down! Shinobu's gone to the kitchen to get more wine."

Several loud crashes and clanks could be heard coming from the kitchen, then silence. A moment later Shinobu appeared at the door, panting.

"I don't have anymore cooking wine!"

"..."

"Ok you can panic now"

"I've got some!" yelled Su, skidding into the room carrying a large yellow bottle. "Here!" she yelled out, tossing it to Kitsune. Grapping the bottle she pried off the lid and took a swing.

'_Huh...banana flavor._.._not bad...'_

Kitsune quickly downed almost the entirety of the bottle before coming up for air. Wiping her hand her sleeve she handed the bottle to Keitaro before turning toward Su to thank her.

"Thanks a lot Su, I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't of helped." She said gratefully. Su however, wasn't paying attention to Kitsune and instead was staring at Keitaro intently.

"Wow Keitaros, I did not know you liked Kitsune that way" she said gleefully as Keitaro took a sip of the drink. "I shall contact big sister Amalla so that we may conduct the ceremony!"

"Er, Su? What are you talking about?" Kitsune asked as Keitaro swallowed.

"Why, the sharing of the traditional MolMolian marriage wine of course," answered Su confused. "When a man shares the traditional MolMolian marriage wine with one or more women, it acts as a promise to wed. Didn't you know that?"

"...."

"NO WE DIDN'T!" shouted Kitsune and Keitaro at Su. "Are you telling me," asked Keitaro, "That because Kitsune and I each had a drink out of the same bottle we have to get married?"

"Auuu! Sempai and Kitsune are getting married!" screamed Shinobu, running around in circles with her arms waving before suddenly coming to a stop. "Wait...Su? Did you say 'women'?" asked Shinobu, a sparkle of hope in her eyes.

"Yes, and yes" she said, answering both questions.

"Naru's gonna kill me..." moaned Keitaro, slumping to the floor.

"Why would I kill you?" came Naru's voice as she walked back down the stairs. Her expression quickly turned to one of fury. "Were you doing something perverted _again_?" she demanded, pulling her sleeve back and readying her fist.

"No! I swear Naru I wasn't doing anything!" Keitaro insisted. It looked for a moment like Naru would buy it, that is until Su opened her mouth.

"Naru! Kitsune and Keitaros are getting married!"

"..."

"Keitaro...", snarled Naru, cracking her knuckles. "YOU PERVERT!" She screamed, charging at him. Screaming, Keitaro covered his face the best he could to soften the blow.

Before she made contact him however, Kitsune stuck her foot out causing Naru to trip and miss Keitaro. Instead she passed him and hit her head against the wall behind him, knocking herself out cold.

"Eh?" Keitaro asked, confused that he wasn't sailing through the air yet. Sitting up, he saw Naru crumpled up against the wall. "Naru! What happened to her?" he asked.

"She tripped." Kitsune hurriedly answered him, cringing at how guilty she sounded. Luckily Keitaro, being Keitaro, didn't notice and was instead busy checking to see if Naru was alright. Which, apparently she was as she started moaning a second later.

"What happened?" she asked sitting up and rubbing her head.

"You tripped," Kitsune repeated, smirking slightly. "You should be more careful Naru, you could have seriously hurt yourself," she added, adding a hint of worry to her voice. Naru glanced up at her.

"Yeah, ok you're right. Hey, what was that Su said about you and Keitaro getting married?" she asked. Seeing Su begin to open her mouth, Kitsune quickly clamped her hand over the blonde princess's mouth. "Oh, it was nothing. Just a misunderstanding on Su's part."

"Oh, ok." Naru replied, sounding unconvinced as she watched Kitsune struggle__to keep the blonde terror quiet. "Um, I'm going to go get some ice for my head alright?" She stood up and began making her way to the kitchen, pausing as she got to the door. "Oh, and Kitsune? You really shouldn't let Shinobu drink." she stated, slipping from the room.

Slowly, ever_**y**_ pair of eyes left in the room slid toward Shinobu, who was busy guzzling what was left of the wine.

A/N: _Well, that's it for now folks. I just realized how ridiculously easy to bash Naru it is, and I'm not even trying to! It's just if I need her to be mean for the story! If anybody ever thinks I crossed the line though please feel free to tell me. I need to know these things._

_And yes, in case anybody didn't guess I'm gonna go ahead with the Kit/Kei/Shin fic. Why? Because I can. Now I just need to know how to list this story in the character lists....maybe as Kitsune and Shinobu? Keitaro is pretty much a given as a main character so I don't really need to list him._

_I've got a chatroom set up to talk about Love Hina with the link to it on my profile. I'll try to get a schedule of when I'm on together, but for now I will be on there tonight (2/10/10) at 6pm to 9pm central standard time in case anybody wants to talk._

_Also, I know that wine that has been used for cooking isn't that good to get your drink on with. She was desperate. _

_Had this one scene planned out where all the girls end up knocked out and on top of Keitaro in awkward positions, but it got cut for various reasons. I might use it later in this story or in another one all together. I actually had several more scenes planned and written out but this chapter was getting two long so I split it, so the next chapter will actually be the second half of what I had planned as this chapter._

_I would like to give a shout out to my beta, Nodoka Miyazawa, without whom this chapter would no doubt be much suckier. TY Nodaka._

_Man this is a long A/N._

_One more thing before I go. I have several ideas for fics to do after this story, and I want opinions on which one to go for. Here are the ideas I have, and I put a poll up to vote for them on my profile. The titles for these are working titles and may change before the actual story is done:_

**The Coven of Hinata-Sou**: Keitaro's grandmother invites him to come stay at and manage her inn...unfortunately she forgets to mention that it is no longer an inn, but a girls dormitory...for vampires! No decided pairing.

**One Night That Lasted a Lifetime: **When Keitaro flunked the Todai exam the first time he went out and had a one night stand with a woman he met at a bar. A year later when he flunks the exam again he goes to visit his grandmother and meets the woman again...along with his newborn baby. A Kei/Kit fic.

**  
When Childhood Ends**: When Keitaro catches Su doing something little girls shouldn't do, it changes their relationship, and the rest of Hinata-Sou, forever. A Kei/Su fic.

**Consequences:** When a Naru-punch goes wrong, Shinobu is badly hurt. Now Naru, Keitaro, and Shinobu must face the consequences, and they are ones that will change their lives forever. A Kei/Shin fic.

**An Honorable Woman**: When Tsuruko's husband is found cheating on her, she decides to pursue Keitaro. A Tsu/Kei fic

**Not Like A Sister**: We all know that Kanako loves Keitaro not as a sibling, but as a lover. What if he felt the same way, from the very beginning?A Kan/Kei fic.


	4. Feeling the Effects: Part 2

AN: _Trumpets sing and the crowd roars as SecondSeraphim FINALLY updates his story. He promises the crowd to ONLY work on this story for a while instead of the various oneshots he keeps posting._

Tea Between Friends

Chapter 4

By Second Seraphim

* * *

Shinobu was drinking the wine.

Shinobu was drinking the _marriage_ wine.

Why was Shinobu drinking the marriage wine, Keitaro asked himself as he watched her guzzle what little remained in the bottle. And better yet, why wasn't he _stopping her_ from drinking the wine.

Most likely because he was in shock.

Kitsune, for that matter_**,**_ wasn't that much better off. She too just stood there and stared for what seemed like minutes but was in fact just a few seconds as Shinobu drowned the remains of the bottle Su had brought for Kitsune to drink.

Speaking of Su, she spoke breaking the two of them out of their trance. "Gee Shinobu, that's really smart!"

"Shinobu!" Keitaro exclaimed_**,**_ coming to. "What are you doing?"

"Eh?" Shinobu asked, dropping the now empty bottle on the ground. "I'm sorry, what was that Sempai?"

"Why did you drink that?" he demanded, his eyes bugging at the thought of what Naru would do to him if she found out _what_ exactly his youngest charge had done.

"Oh? I know I'm not supposed to drink but I was _very_ thirsty all of a sudden. Am I in trouble?" she asked, looking up at him with big puppy dog eyes which Keitaro found impossible to be mad at. "Well, no, I mean yes, I mean…I don't know! I'm not mad at you but…didn't you hear what Su said about that being a marriage wine?" he demanded. Shinobu chuckled.

"Oh? Is this_ that _wine?"

'_Of course its that wine! What other wine would it be?!__'_Keitaro screamed in his head, but in real life only sighed, "Yes Shinobu_**,**_ it was that wine."

"Oops," she said, taking a step. Almost immediately_**,**_ she felt the world spinning around her and found herself falling. Letting out a gasp, Keitaro leaped forward and caught her just in time. "I gotcha!"

"My hero," Shinobu mumbled, leaning up to give him a kiss on the lips. She missed and got him on the cheek instead. "Opps…missed," she slurred before trying again only to land on his nose this time. The tipsy girl giggled. "Trying to thank you, but I think I'm too drunk…try again when I'm sober…good night," she said, and then fell silent.

"Er, Shinobu?" Keitaro asked, breaking out of the trance he had been in since the first kiss. The only answer he received was the sound of soft breathing. He looked toward Kitsune for support, but she was still frozen solid from watching Shinobu drink. Seeing that she would be no help at the moment, he instead turned toward Su, even though he didn't really think she would be any help.

To his surprise howeverthe blonde gajin calmly slid her arms under Shinobu to pry her loose, a sympathetic look on her face, coupled with a look of worry. As she began to pull Shinobu from Keitaro's arms however the bluenette awoke with a start.

"I'm awake I'm awake!" she insisted, pulling herself out of Keitaro and Su's arms. She immediately began to fall forward again, this time to be caught by Su. "And drunk!" the tanned girl stated, helping Shinobu to her seat. "I didn't think the wine would have this much of an effect on you Shinobu…are you ok?"

"I'm just fine," came the reply. Just then Tama flew by; Shinobu reached up into the air and grabbed the turtle, before shoving her into her mouth the next moment.

"Gah! Shinobu, no eating Tama!" Su exclaimed grabbing hold of the front end of the reptile and doing her best to pull it out of her friend's mouth. Meanwhile Keitaro pulled his gaze from the apparent case of role reversal to check on Kitsune, who still stood there. Touching her on the hand, he asked if she was ok.

"Uh, what?" she asked broken from her stupor by the touch. He repeated his question. "Oh yeah, I'm fine. Just a…just a case of déjà vu." she answered, moving to sit back down on__ her seat. Keitaro sat down as well, but not before sparing Kitsune one last glance. "I told you I'm fine." she insisted. Deciding to take her word for it, he turned away just in time to see Su succeed in rescuing Tama from Shinobu. It was just in time as well, as Naru walked back into the room a moment later, an ice pack pressed against her head.

"You ok?" both Keitaro and Kitsune asked simultaneously, both blushing as they realized what they had done. If Naru noticed she didn't show it; instead she just waved it off.

"Yeah, I'm good. Just a bit of swelling. It will go down in a couple of hours," she answered, glancing at Shinobu, who was wavering in her seat like she might fall down any moment. "Er, are you alright Shinobu?" she asked the bluenette. Shinobu giggled.

"Just fine Naru-sempai" she answered. She then proceeded to fall unconscious, her face in her food.

* * *

"In you go," Kitsune said as she helped Shinobu climb into bed. After she had fallen into her food Keitaro had decided that it would probably best for the girl to sleep it off. And so, despite having a broken leg, he somehow managed to carry the girl up the stairs to her room, to Naru's great displeasure (and, had she been awake, Shinobu's joy. As it was she was in the middle of a dream of Keitaro carrying her to their room on their honeymoon.)

Once there Kitsune roused the girl from her sleep, then proceeded to help the half-conscious girl change into her pajamas before helping her climb into bed. Nearly the moment her head hit the pillow the girl was asleep again, a soft sound, almost a purr, emanating from her. Kneeling down on one knee so as to make sure Shinobu was tucked in well, she was surprised when the girl's arms reached around her and pulled. Her balance upset from the position she was in, Kitsune fell on top of the younger girl, their faces just a few inches from each other.

"Sempai…" Shinobu muttered in her sleep, and Kitsune couldn't help but smile. She was dreaming, and thought that Kitsune was Keitaro. It was cute.

It stopped being cute a moment later when Shinobu pulled her head down the last few inches and kissed her.

'_Gah!__'_ Kitsune thought to herself, _'__Ok, calm down. This is not the time to panic.__'_

Shinobu stuck her tongue into her mouth.

'_Time to panic time __to__ panic!__'_

"Sempai…" Shinobu muttered again, letting go of Kitsune's mouth for a moment to moan her love's name again. Kitsune used this momentary reprieve to break away from the grip holding her down. Standing up quickly, she cast a glance at the girl before turning to leave.

'_Note to self: TELL NO ONE ABOUT THAT EVER,__'_she thought as she headed to the door, pausing for a moment as she reached Shinobu's alarm clock. She deliberated for a moment, then reached over and switched off the alarm. After all the next day was a Saturday and the more of the alcohol Shinobu could sleep off the better.

Exiting the hallway, she was surprised to see Keitaro still there. "How is she?" he asked, a worried look on his face. Kitsune gave him a smile to calm him down. "She's fine. She'll have one hell of ah hangover come morning, but beyond that she's ok."

At that piece of news Keitaro let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding. "Thank goodness. I don't know what she was thinking drinking that!" he exclaimed, causing Kitsune to give him a look.

"You really aren't the brightest apple on the tree are you?" she asked, causing Keitaro to blink.

"Huh?"

"Never mind"

"Ok…speaking about that whole marriage thing…do you think Su was joking?" he asked. Kitsune shook her head.

"Knowing her? Who knows? I'll ask her when I see her tonight; she's staying with me remember?"

"That's right…thanks. Um…I guess I'll go now. I've got some stuff to do before I go to bed for the night. See you in the morning?"

"Don't see why you wouldn't. I'm gonna go do the dishes then head to the springs for a bit, if you need me." He nodded then disappeared into his room, sliding the door shut after him. Kitsune looked after him for a moment before turning and making her way back to the kitchen.

As she had expected, Naru had finished eating already and vanished, probably to her room. To her surprise however Su hadn't done the same; instead the usually hyperactive genius was standing in the kitchen calmly washing the dishes, a thoughtful look upon her face. "Penny for your thoughts?" Kitsune asked her, startling Su so that she almost dropped the cup the was wiping.

"Oh Kitsune! I'm sorry_**,**_ I didn't hear you come in," she explained apologetically. Kitsune waved it off.

"Don't worry about it. Looked like you had something on your mind. I mean, I don't think I've ever seen you that thoughtful without it leading to Keitaro getting blown up. So, what's on your mind?"

"Is…is Shinobu ok?" Ah. So that's what had been worrying the girl. Understandable; they were best friends after all.

"Don't worry, she just needs to sleep it off. She'll be fine by morning, though she'll probably have a killer headache," she explained. Su seemed to relax as if a huge weight had been lifted from her shoulders. "That's good. I didn't know what effect it would have on her. It...works differently on women from MolMol," she explained. Kitsune waited to hear more, but apparently it was all she was going to get from the girl. That's fine, she had other questions for her, and she could always find out what she meant by "works differently" at another time. Right now there was something more important to ask. Gesturing for the girl to move over so that Kitsune could take charge of drying, Kitsune cleared her throat after a minute.

"Uh, Su honey? About that marriage wine…"

"It is only enforceable if drunken in the presence of a temple priestess," she answered before Kitsune could fully ask the question. The fox let out a sigh of relief. "That's good," she said, at which Su raised her eyebrow. "Surely marrying Keitaro wouldn't be _that_ awful a thing would it? Shinobu certainly didn't seem to mind."

Kitsune chuckled. "Well, that's Shinobu you know."

"I'll ask you not to make fun of my best friend."

"I wasn't making fun of her!" Kitsune insisted, the seriousness in Su's voice catching her off guard. "What I meant was being married to Keitaro is something she would want, because she loves him. I don't. Besides, marriage just isn't for me. I like to be free."

"I see," Su said as she finished washing the last plate, putting it in the stack for Kitsune to dry. She turned to leave, pausing as she reached the doorway. "Freedom," she began, causing Kitsune to glance at her, "must get lonely sometimes," she said, walking out of the room before Kitsune had a chance to answer her. She stared after her for a moment before turning back to her work. Quickly dying the last of the dishes off she returned to her room to find that Su hadn't yet gone to bed. Grabbing a change of clothes she headed down to the baths.

To her chagrin she was not alone; there leaning up against her favorite rock was Naru. Trying her best to keep the scowl off her face, Kitsune slid into the water beside her and stretched. "Evening"

"Hmm? Oh, hey Kitsune I didn't hear you come in. I was just going over some of my notes in my head."

"'Course you were."

"Huh? What's _that_ mean," she asked, sitting up and fixing Kitsune in her gaze. Kitsune just shrugged. "Nothing, forget it."

"You're not still made at the drinking thing are you? I said I was sorry," Naru said, not sure what, if anything was wrong. Which in itself was part of what was wrong in the first place, Kitsune noted frowning.

"No Naru, that's not why I'm angry…Keitaro told me what happened between the two of you," she said. Seeing the confused look on Naru's face, she sighed. "He told me that he told you loved you."

"I see," Naru said neutrally, her face devoid of emotion. "And did he tell you my answer?"

"Yeah," Kitsune answered, suddenly angry with her friend again. "Jack shit that's what! How could you do that to him? You might not like him Naru but you could have at least _told _him as much!"

"Why do you care?" Naru demanded, punching the water. "What's it matter to you what goes on between me and that pervert?"

"STOP CALLING HIM THAT!" Kitsune screamed into her face, causing her to flinch.

"Kitsune?"

"It matters to me because he's human Naru. He doesn't deserve to be strung along like that, not knowing where he stands," she said, her voice getting louder near the end. Realizing she was almost screaming, she forced herself to calm down and lower her voice. So I ask you why; why didn't you answer him. Why did you walk away?"

"Because I didn't know what to say alright!" Naru yelled back at her. Kitsune stared at her.

"Are you serious? You didn't know what to say?"

"I…I don't know if I love him."

"Then why not say that? Why not just tell him that you don't know for sure how you feel? It wouldn't have been the best answer, but it would have been better than nothing!"

"I shouldn't have to…he shouldn't have told me that yet…I wasn't ready for it."

"So your saying he should have waited? Bull. He knew what he wanted and he went for it. Would you have had him wait till you were ready to make up your mind? Tell me, how long would that have taken? Would you have him just waiting there, never knowing if he had a future with you or not, missing out on other opportunities that passed him by? How would that have changed anything? How would your relationship have changed then?"

"I-I don't know?"

"I know," Kitsune said, sighing. "He's…he's hurting bad Naru. And it's your fault," she said, standing up to leave. Naru looked up at her friend, a hurt look on her face at Kitsune abandoning her. "If you're going to make a decision, make it soon. You might not have a chance much longer." At this Naru looked at Kitsune questioningly. She sighed again, her friend once more surprising her in her obliviousness. "You might not know how you feel about him Naru, but there are those in this house that do, and they won't wait forever.," she said, turning and climbing out of the bath. As she reached the door to the changing room Naru's voice made her pause. "Including you?"

Kitsune paused, Su's words from earlier floating in her head.

She left without a word.

* * *

AN: _Wow. That was s__h__ort. I mean, really s__h__ort. I feel bad for vanishing that long only to post such a s__h__ort chapter, but I__'__ve been busy. Senior year of college and all that._

_Anyway, this chapter was supposed to be tacked on to the end of the last chapter, but I felt that it was getting to__o__ long and cut it off. I fully expected this chapter to be twice as long as it is but it just didn__'__t turn out that way; its not that I cut anything out it just ended up shorter. I promise the next one will be longer._

_To the guy who keeps leaving me anonymous reviews insulting me. Wow. How brave of you to leave an insult while anonymous. Your parents must be proud. Here__'__s an idea; if you don__'__t like my story STOP READING IT ALREADY. _

_To everyone else: thank you for the reviews. I__'__m actually a bit surprised over how well this story is doing and I just want to thank you all for the reviews._

_Here__'__s a shout out to my beta Nodoka Miyazawa, for without whom you would have an even harder time trying to read my story._


	5. Sleepless Nights

Tea Between Friends

Chapter 5: Sleepless Nights

By Second Seraphim

* * *

Keitaro pulled the covers of the futon over his head and tried to fall asleep. Try as he might however he couldn't get the events of the day out of his head. Specifically Shinobu's kiss. Why had the girl done that? What had possessed her to drink the wine? If it had been Kitsune or Mutsumi who had done it he could have believed it, after all both of them were of the age to drink and did it quite often. Well, not Kitsune anymore he reminded himself, since she decided to quite and all. But Shinobu had never been a drinker; both because she was underage and because it just wasn't something she would do. But there she had been, drinking the marriage wine.

Hold on a moment, Keitaro thought as an idea bordering on the absurd entered his head. Did-did Shinobu like him? Kitsune had mentioned that several of the girls at the Su had feelings for him, but he had just assumed she had meant Naru, herself, and possibly Su. For someone like Shinobu to like him…well, it was unthinkable.

But yet there is was, now that he thought about it. All of the signs of love were there, staring at him. He had just been too dumb to see them.

Guilt began to gnaw at Keitaro's gut. Guilt at having been to blind and stupid, and guilt that he didn't return her feelings…or did he? He loved her, he knew that, but it was as a little sister instead of as a lover. It was Naru he loved, Naru he would give anything for…but would he do the same for Shinobu? That one girl out of all of them who had always accepted him, never demanded anything in return? The girl who loved him?

Yes, he would. What that meant, he didn't know.

* * *

Mitsune slid her door open and glanced over at her futon, where she spotted the already sleeping form of Su. Smiling slightly for a moment at how peaceful the girl looked, she frowned a moment later as both her words and Naru's passed through her mind.

She wasn't in love with Keitaro. At least…she didn't _think_ she was in love with Keitaro. She was in love with Seta right? And Keitaro was a lot like Seta…maybe that was the reason for these feelings she was just now beginning to notice.

Yeah. That was it. She was just projecting her feelings for Seta onto Keitaro, just like she was projecting her image of herself onto Shinobu. She didn't really love him, just the things he had in common with Seta.

Things he…

Kitsune sat up with a start as she realized something.

Seta had never worried about her drinking. Seta had never been there for her whenever she needed it. Seta didn't put others before himself _every single time_.

Seta was none of the things she loved about Keitaro.

That's it.

'_I'm in love with Keitaro.'_

More things passed though her mind, things that in hindsight seemed obvious. Keitaro cared about them, about her. Seta cared about archeology. Keitaro ignored himself. Seta ignored his own daughter! Keitaro paid attention to all of their needs, even if he couldn't always understand their problems he at least did his best to solve them! Seta couldn't even figure out why the hell Haruka was mad at him all the time!

She did didn't love Seta.

She loved Keitaro.

'_I love Keitaro!'_

She wanted to scream it, to yell it, to cry it out loud. But she couldn't, it would wake everyone up and she would have to answer for it. And she wasn't ready for it. She didn't know what to do with her realization.

Still, she allowed herself one small victory. Instead of yelling it, she made sure her sleeping partner was asleep before whispering it as loudly as she could without anyone hearing.

"I love Keitaro."

She loved him.

Now she just had to figure out what to do about it.

* * *

Naru Narusagawa couldn't sleep. No matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't get Kitsune's words out of her head.

She wasn't stupid. She was fully aware that she wasn't the only one at the Sou who liked Keitaro-but it wasn't like any of the others were about to confess to him. Shinobu was both too shy to confess and too young for anything to come of it if she did. Su was also too young, and Keitaro would probably not take her seriously if she did. Motoko was much like her and was too scared to admit her own feelings, and Mutsumi had already made it clear that she wouldn't get in Naru's way. As for Kitsune…

Kitsune didn't have any feelings for Keitaro did she? No, surly not, she still liked Seta after all. So there'd be no reason for her to like Keitaro. Naru was perfectly safe on that front. Still, she couldn't help but glance over at the cover separating their rooms. Moving toward it, she was about to lift it up and jump down when a thought popped into her head. If she had gone down and confessed to him now he might see it as a moment of weakness of some sort…yes, better to make him squirm for a bit more, make him think she was doing him a favor for accepting his love. She just had to act aloft and uncaring for a little bit, and he would be hers completely. She didn't realize that he already _was_ hers completely; nor did she consider that her gamble may very well lose him.

It wasn't like he would give up on her. He had spent four years trying to get into Tokyo University before succeeding, and if he truly loved her then surely he could wait for an answer for just a little bit longer.

Naru Narusagawa loved Keitaro Urashima. She was just not ready to admit it yet.

* * *

As she heard her sleeping partner's breath finally slow to the gently breathing that signified sleep, Kaolla opened her eyes and glanced over at her, pleasantly surprised that Kitsune had admitted her feelings for Keitaro so soon. Hopefully, it would make things easier for what was to come.

She hadn't lied. Well, not exactly anyway. She had just left some information out. Nothing important…just that, while the contract formed by the marriage wine was only enforceable when consumed in the presence of a temple priestess, as a princess of MolMol she _was_ a temple priestess. Still, she saw no need to call her big sister for the ceremony just yet. The law stipulated that they had a whole year to marry after all, and Su needed that time to help smooth out a few details. Like getting the groom and two brides comfortable with the idea…although, like Shinobu had already shown she had no problem sharing. Kitsune would be easy enough to convince, Keitaro still had that bothersome crush on Naru. Oh well. There would be time to deal with that later. For now, it would be time for sleep.

Snuggling deeper into Kitsune's side she slowly drifted off to sleep, plans buzzing in her head. Trying her best to get comfortable, she couldn't help but wish that Motoko was back already.

* * *

In her room, Shinobu slept peacefully, dreams of her sempai running through her head.

A/N: Yes I know this was really short! It is for a number of reasons. One: This is just how this chuck of the story came out. Sorry. Two. I haven't had that much time to write of late because finals are upon me. Hopefully once summer starts I'll have more time.


	6. Hangovers

A/N: _I am really sorry for the lack of updates over the past few months. My stories have NOT been forgotten. My life has just been a bit of a mess lately. Hopefully it won't take as long for my next update._

Tea Between Friends

Chapter 6: Hangovers

By Second Seraphim

'_This better not be becoming a habit,'_ Kitsune thought as she stared at her alarm clock. While it was not as early as she had woken up the previous day, it was still way to early in her book.

Remembering that she had turned Shinobu's alarm off last night so that she could sleep in, Kitsune grudgingly pried herself out of Su's grip to go start breakfast. As she stepped out of her room her gaze settled on the door to Keitaro's room and a blush crossed her face as she remembered her epiphany from the previous night.

'_I love Keitaro,'_ she said to herself, allowing the feel of the words to flow through her mind. _'I love Keitaro!'_ she almost shouted, having had to give it her all to keep the words inside her. Giving a sigh of joy and satisfaction at her self-admittance, she turned to begin the trek to the kitchen when she caught site of something and froze.

The door to Shinobu's room.

Immediately guilt filled her. While she had acknowledged to herself that in pursuing Keitaro she would be completely screwing Naru over, she had completely forgotten that she would be doing the same exact thing to the homemaker of Hinata Sou. Rather than the sentiment of 'you snooze you lose' that Kitsune had felt when considering Naru's feelings, the same sentiment wouldn't work with Shinobu.

'_She didn't even have a chance,'_ Kitsune thought. _'She's too young!'_

Still, Kitsune couldn't help feel bad. If anyone knew what it was like to have a crush on an older man it was she.

'_Who am I kidding,' _Kitsune thought ruefully. _'I've seen the way she looks at him, how she cares about him. That's not a crush. That's love.'_

Shinobu loved Keitaro. It was her dream to be with him. For him to love her.

Kitsune was planning on destroying those dreams.

'_It's not fair! I can't do that to her!'_

'_So you plan on doing it to yourself instead?' _the other side of her mind argued back. _'Besides, if you don't pursue him Naru will. Then neither you _nor _Shinobu will be happy.'_

'_But that still doesn't mean it's right!"_

"_All's fair in love and war."_

She wanted to fight that half. But she couldn't. She knew that it was right.

And she hated that.

Turning away from Shinobu's door, she made her way down into the kitchen.

Hangovers sucked.

This was something Shinobu was fast discovering as she woke up that morning experiencing her first one. Why Kitsune put herself through such a thing every morning was beyond her. Then again, that may have been the reason the fox had decided to quit in the first place.

Groaning to herself then cringing at how annoyingly loud her own voice was Shinobu rolled over in bed…only to jump up, grab her trashcan, and empty her stomach of the previous nights dinner.

'_Why in the world would anybody want to do that? I only had half a bottle! Kitsune has several times that on a regular basis!' _, she thought, deciding that either she had a super low tolerance or that Kitsune had a very high one.

Wiping her mouth with a tissue from her desk, Shinobu looked disgustedly at the remains of the previous nights meal. Turning from the sight, she froze as her gaze settled on her alarm clock.

'_I'm late starting breakfast!'_

Grabbing a change of clothes while doing her best to ignore her still present headache and slight dizziness, Shinobu quickly got dressed before heading to the bathroom to wash her mouth out. Stumbling down the stairs the best she could she managed to make her way into the kitchen…only to find Kitsune hard at work on breakfast.

"Kitsune?"

The older woman looked up from the food she was cooking to glance at the girl. A smile crossed her face, but even hung-over Shinobu noticed that it didn't quite meet her eyes.

"Morning Shinobu. How's your head?"

A groan was her only response.

"That bad eh? Here" she said sliding a cup of coffee over to her. Shinobu took it with a thank you, cringing as she took a drink. "Yuk!"

Kitsune chuckled. "Here," she added passing her the cream. "I should have warned you not to try it black. Sorry"

"That's ok Kitsune…"Shinobu whispered, unwilling to raise her voice to high or risk her headache getting worse. "I'm sorry you had to cook breakfast again…"

"Don't be. You needed the break. Besides, you do too much around here anyway and don't get enough in return."

"But it's my job!" she practically shouted, flinching as her voice rose too high. "Besides, I really don't mind doing it and all…" she said, fading out in the end. It didn't go unnoticed by Kitsune, who slid a plate of food in front of her before getting one for herself and sitting across from Shinobu. She looked at the girl with a mix of admiration and pity. She knew the real reason Shinobu put up with all of them…it was to help her Sempai. "I know Shinobu but you still shouldn't push yourself too hard. Keitaro probably wouldn't like it if you stressed yourself out too much huh?"

This was apparently the wrong thing to say, as Shinobu suddenly looked downtrodden. Kitsune frowned at the sudden change of attitude. "Hey there, what's with the sudden sad look?"

"You, Sempai, and I aren't really married are we?" the girl asked sadly. Kitsune's eyes widened in surprise before turning apologetic. "No. Su explained to me the wine only worked if it was drank in the presence of a temple priestess from her island."

Shinobu's eyes watered, but she willed herself not to cry. "Oh. Ok."

"Might I ask…that is, what made you doubt it was for real?"

"I'm not that lucky…" was the reply, as Shinobu finally lost control and began crying. In typical Shinobu fashion she tried to run off to her room, only to be stopped as Kitsune caught her and pulled her into her arms. Kitsune sat there holding the girl as she cried, her tears of loneliness and longing pouring down the older woman's shirt. It was a good ten minutes before Shinobu pulled away from her friend and wiped her eyes. "Thank you Kitsune-sempai. I needed that."

"No problem kiddo. Anytime you feel like you need someone to hold and cry on, just come and find me all right?"

"Ok Kitsune-sempai."

"I mean it Shinobu. Anytime ok. Believe it or not but I know what you are going through."

'_That's right,'_ Shinobu thought, _'she was in love with Seta! Yet another person who put their own happiness on hold for Naru's sake.'_

"I'll remember that Kitsune-sempai. Thank you."

Kitsune smiled, glad that she had succeeded in cheering the blunette up. Unfortunately though it seemdshe didn't know where to stop, as she kept going.

"I'm positive you would make a great wife for Keitaro if you were-" she began, stopping as her brain caught up to her. _'Way to go Kitsune! You big idiot!'_

To her surprise however Shinobu just smiled sadly. "Older? I know. As it is I'll have to settle for being the best friend I can instead."

"I'm actually surprised you didn't seem to mind having me as a co-wife…you love him that much, don't you? That you'd share him?"

"I do."

'_How can anyone love someone that much?'_ Kitsune wondered before continuing. "May I ask…that is, why do you love him?" she asked instead of her originally intended question, inwardly yelling at herself for asking Shinobu such a stupid thing. To her surprise though Shinobu just smiled.

"I love him because of who he is. He is nice. He cares about all of us, more so than himself. We treat him like dirt but he never raises a hand against us in retaliation, never even raises his voice. Because even if it is not how I want him to love me, the fact is he does love me, just like he loves all of us. All we've done, and yet he still treats us as friends…no, as family. That is why I love him."

At this speech guilt shot through Kitsune and she had to bite back tears. Two things triggered the guilt; the first was how correct Shinobu was. No matter what they did to Keitaro, he was still good to them. And secondly because of Shinobu's words.

'_All we've done.'_

We. Not 'you'. Not 'the other girls'. We.

The girl was including herself with the rest of them. She had been nothing but nice to Keitaro since day one, and still she counted herself with the rest of them.

She was innocent, and yet listed herself among the guilty.

It made Kitsune ill.

"Kitsune? Are you alright?" Shinobu asked, concerned over how long her friend had been silent. Kitsune looked up at her and the tears in her eyes stunned Shinobu. "Kitsune?"

"Why 'we'?"

"Pardon?"

"You said we. You included yourself. Why damnit!" she demanded, losing control and grabbing hold of Shinobu's arms. The tears flowed freely now, Shinobu sat back in shock as the woman broke down in front of her, and she suddenly understood why. Pulling herself free of Kitsune's grip she pulled the older woman to her, holding Kitsune to her chest in a reversal of the roles they had held not five minutes ago. Within just a few minutes however Kitsune was able to pry herself from the young girl's grip, and wiped her eyes on her sleeve. "Thank you."

"No problem."

"Why though? Why include yourself?"

"Because I'm guilty."

"But you didn't do anything!"

"Exactly!" Shinobu exclaimed, suddenly angry at herself and Kitsune. She forced herself to calm down before continuing. "I never did anything! The man I loved was being treated like a piece of dirt and I never did anything to stop it! What do you think would have happened, Kitsune, if I had gone to the police? If I had told them of the abuse he had received, had shown them proof? What would they have done if I reported the countless cases of blackmail-" Shinobu began, slamming her hands across her mouth when she realized what she was saying. It was too late though as Kitsune had heard it, and had heard the message contained within. Even as nice as she acted, as forgiving as she tried to be, Shinobu still held Kitsune partially responsible for the pain her Sempai had gone through. And she had every right to be…after all, Kitsune still blamed herself.

"Shinobu…"

"Kitsune…"

"I'm sorry," they both said at the same time.

Out in the hallway, the owner of a pair of bright green eyes wiped away her tears. Guilt flowed through her body as the conversation she had overheard replayed itself in her mind. As she heard once more how she had hurt her big brother and her best friend, the tears came anew.

'_No more,'_ she told herself, wiping away the tears once again. _'I won't hurt them anymore. No more experiments. No more playing. It's time to grow up.'_

Composing herself, she pretended that she had just come down the stairs as she entered the room for breakfast.

Keitaro awoke with a headache. Not the kind of headache one gets from a hangover mind you, though the feeling was similar. No, this was the kind of headache that was caused by sleep deprivation. Keitaro had had a horrible time falling asleep, having spent most of the night trying to figure out what to do about Shinobu. He still didn't have an answer, and had finally just fallen asleep from sheer exhaustion.

Prying himself out of bed, Keitaro got dressed and slowly made his way down toward breakfast. Upon entering the room he spotted Kitsune, Shinobu, and Su all eating. As soon as he entered the room, there were several gasps at his appearance from the girls.

"Sempei! Are you all right?" Shinobu asked, jumping up and running to help him to the table. As he sat down Kitsune whistled at him.

"Geez Keitaro. You look like hell."

"Couldn't sleep. Had a lot of thinking to do." was his reply as he began eating. As soon as the first bite touched his mouth he brightened up a bit. "Great food as always Shinobu."

At this Shinobu blushed, and Kitsune giggled. "Actually Kitsune cooked again Sempai." she gave as explanation at his questioning glance. Keitaro nodded in understanding before sitting down and turning toward the fox.

"Hmm, Kitsune, maybe you should do this more often. It could be used to work off some of the back-rent you owe," he joked. At this joke Shinobu froze in the middle of getting Keitaro's food ready, something that everyone at the table picked up on at once.

"Er, you know, so Shinobu could get to sleep in once in a while," he added. "Her food's much better, but she does so much for us all that she deserves a break once in a while," he explained, allowing Shinobu to relax and return to what she was doing. As she ran to the kitchen to get Keitaro a drink Kitsune leaned in toward him to whisper in his ear.

"Much better?"

"Uh…"

He was interrupted from saying any more by the sound of Naru making her way down the stairs. Entering the kitchen, the girl sat at the empty seat farthest from Keitaro.

"Morning girls," she said stretching. At this those "girls" all shot her a nasty look while Keitaro's head dropped, none of which werenoticed by Naru. Instead, the girl waited for Shinobu to bring her plate to her like she always did, but when the blue haired girl just continued eating Naru frowned at her before getting up and getting it herself. When she returned a moment later with her breakfast she tried to strike up a conversation.

"So, does anyone know when Motoko arrives back?"

"The two o'clock train," Su answered plainly. Naru waited for the girl to say more but when she didn't she spoke up. "So what's the plan? We going to go greetor just wait here?"

"I'm going to go and help her with her luggage," answered Su. "I don't know about to rest of you."

"I'll go. I could use the exercise," answered Kitsune, which caused Naru to look at her in surprise. "What?"

"Nothing, I just kind of expected you to try and throw a party like you do every time someone comes back from a trip."

"No drinking, remember?"

"Oh yeah…" Naru added sheepishly, having been so focused on herself that she had forgotten about her friend's endeavor. Keitaro seemed to sense this, and spoke up to head off a fight.

"I'll be staying here."

This however had the unforeseen effect of Naru glaring at Keitaro. "What, you're not going to go help Motoko with her luggage?"

"No. I have some chores I need to get done around the Sou."

"Humph. You know you should have made sure to get the rest of your work done already so you'd have to day off to help Motoko. This is important you know!"

Keitaro didn't reply. Instead he just slid his half-eaten plate away and stood up, bowing to Kitsune. "Thank you for the meal. I need to get to work now." he added before turning and leaving.

As soon as he was gone Kitsune spun on Naru. "What the hell Naru?" she demanded.

"What'd I do?"

"What do you mean what did you do? Did you really have to bust him like that? The man works his ass off to take care of us-"

"It's his job!"

"Like hell it is! To care for the building yes, but not for _us! _He's doing his best to take care of us and you basically go up and say 'sorry K, _not good enough!'"_

"He should be there for Motoko!"

"She's arriving home on a train! It's not like she's graduating or anything! Why is it so important that he be there?"

"Because-"

"Speaking of which, I noticed that you didn't say where _you_ would be today Naru. Are you going to pick up Motoko?"

"No, I have schoolwork to do today."

Kitsune stared at her. "Typical."

Naru started. "What?"

"You get on to him for not going and then you pull the same exact-"

"It's totally different!"

"Yeah, you're right. Keitaro isn't staying behind for himself." Kitsune snapped, standing up and storming out of the room. Naru turned toward Su and Shinobu for some support and maybe an explanation on what the hell was going on only to find the two had snuck out sometime during the fight. Leaving Naru to do all of the dishes.

'_What's her problem?'_ Naru thought to herself as she gathered up the dirty plates. Her attitude then softened as a feeling of guilt overtook her. She paused in her work and looked out toward where Keitaro had disappeared. _'Maybe they're right. Maybe I have been too hard on him,'_ Just as quickly the guilt was squashed down. _'No! I have to be hard on him. Have to make him work for me, have to make him think he's lucky to have me! Otherwise…otherwise I might lose him.'_

Some say that love makes fools of us all. In Naru's case it most certainly did.

Kitsune stomped away from the kitchen in anger at Naru's words and attitude. It was like the girl's only purposes in life were to do well in school and make Keitaro miserable. And Kitsune wouldn't stand for it anymore. No more Ms Nice Girl, no more waiting for Naru to grow a brain. Kitsune pushed the guilt she felt about Shinobu down and steeled her nerves. She was going to ask Keitaro out.

Well, _drag_ him out really. But that was just getting into semantics.

Soon after Keitaro entered his room to put on his work clothes he heard a knock on the door. Pausing in what he was doing, he slid the door open to find Shinobu standing on the other side, Su standing a few feet behind her.

"Sempai." Shinobu began, only to pause and blush as she caught sight of him. Su wolf whistled, causing Keitaro to look at the both of them in confusion before glancing down to find himself shirtless. _'Oops'_ he thought quickly grabbing his work shirt and pulling it over his head. As soon as he was covered Shinobu broke from her trance, blushing even deeper as she realized that she had been staring. After receiving a gentle nudge from Su she cleared her mind and spoke. "Sempai I was wondering-"

"Hey Keitaro do you-" Kitsune began as she walked up, pausing as she noticed Su and Shinobu. "Uh, do you need any help today?" she finished lamely, flinching at the feebleness of her finish. Still, while she had decided to ignore what it would do to Shinobu and ask Keitaro out, she didn't think it would be a good idea to ask him out _while she was standing right there_. So instead she prepared herself for a day of manual labor.

Instead however Keitaro just smiled. "Thanks Kitsune, but I'd hate to ask you to work when it's my responsibility." He explained.

"Actually Sempai, I was going to ask the same thing," interjected Shinobu. Keitaro smiled at her as well.

"But Shinobu, you have your own chores to do don't you? It's not fair for you to do mine as well."

"But mine don't take as long! And if I help you then you might be able to finish in time to pick up Motoko!"

Keitaro had to stop and think on that one. While it was true that he would like to be there when Motoko arrived, asking someone to help with what was his responsibility was against his nature. Then again, with his leg broken it would take longer than usual to do his work, plus _they_ asked _him_. Giving in with a sigh, he then brightened when an idea came to him.

"Alright Kitsune, you can help…Shinobu," he finished. Both girls looked surprised.

"But Keitaro…" Shinobu began, but Keitaro shook his head.

"Listen. I want you to show Kitsune how to do your choirs Shinobu. You do way too much around here, way more than your fair share even with it being how you pay for your rent. This way, she'll be able to take over if you ever need a day off, plus she can work off some of her back rent. It will still be your job most of the time," he added, making sure the girl didn't think he was trying to take away her means of payment. "And then after the two of you finish all of your choirs if I still have work left you can help me, deal?" he asked. Both girls hesitated for a moment before finally nodding consent, Kitsune because she _did_ feel like she needed to pay off some of her back rent, and Shinobu because Kitsune still needed to tell her what had happened between Keitaro and Naru. Plus a day off every once and a while didn't sound too bad. So with out any further ado the two went of to do their work.

With that out of the way, Keitaro turned to begin his work only to be stopped by a poke in the back. He turned to find Su.

"Oh, Su. I'm sorry I forgot you were there," he explained. And who could blame him? The usually energetic girl had been standing there quietly as the other three talked, only stepping forward when the other girls were gone.

"I know what you're planning. You think it will take so long for Shinobu to teach Kitsune how to do the chores that you'll be finished with all of yours. That way you can accept their help without actually making them work."

"Uh, yes actually," Keitaro admitted sheepishly. Su smirked.

"Naughty Keitaro."

"You won't tell, will you?"

"No. Besides, you're plan won't work. You'll still have plenty to do once they are done."

"Eh?"

"I need your help…" she said, beginning to explain…

As Kitsune and Shinobu loaded the dirty laundry into the washer Kitsune told Shinobu the story. The younger girl didn't speak when her elder was talking, wanting to listen to the whole thing before she made a judgment, though her expression changed several times during the story. It went from sadness at the confession, to anger at the lack of a response, and back again to sadness over her Sempai's opinion of himself. By the time the story was over, it was clear how Shinobu felt.

Shinobu was upset.

Actually, Shinobu was _angry._

Strike that, Shinobu was _furious_.

Ok let's be honest here. Shinobu was #$% pissed!

'_How dare that…that…female _dog_ treat my Sempai like that!'_ Thought Shinobu, refusing to say such a harsh word even in the sanctity of her own mind. She could certainly still think it's meaning though.

Kitsune had jumped back from Shinobu when the young girl reacted how she had. Gulping enviously, she tried to get the girl's attention.

"Er, Shinobu? Are you ok?"

"Yes," replied Shinobu, calming down.

"Good, because the wall isn't."

"Eh?" Shinobu asked, glancing toward where she had punched the laundry room wall…only to find that she had pulled a Naru and punched _through _the wall.

"Ah!" she shouted as she jumped back, pulling her arm out of the hole. As the offending limb was removed a few more pieces of wood fell down before settling.

"Oh dear…" muttered Shinobu. Kitsune whistled.

"Damn, Shinobu, honey. I didn't know you could do that."

"N-neither did I."

Neither girl said or did anything after that for several minutes. Instead they both just stared at the hole.

"So, huh," said Kitsune, breaking the silence. "Do you think we should go get Keitaro?"

"I don't know…"answered Shinobu. She was slightly angry with herself at the prospect of causing her Sempai more work…and slightly afraid that _he_ would be afraid of _her_ when he found out what she'd done.

"Well," continued Kitsune, "Maybe we can fix it ourselves. It can't be _that_ hard.

Shinobu gave her a look.

"Ok, maybe you're right. Hmm," She said, noticing the conveniently placed picture of a boat hanging on the opposing wall. "I have an idea!" she said, taking the picture down along with its nail. Sticking the nail above the hole she slid the picture over the hole, covering it completely. "There! All better."

"Uh, Kitsune?"

Kitsune turned and glanced toward Shinobu. And toward the second, larger hole that the picture had apparently been covering.

"Gah! Shinobu!"

"That one wasn't me! I promise!"

"Then who-" began Kitsune pausing as she caught sight of something inside the second hole. Reaching into it, she pulled out a box. Holding it for Shinobu to see, she flipped open the lid to reveal…a banana.

"Su," both girls said at once. They continued to stare at the fruit for several moments before Kitsune spoke.

"You know, we could blame Su for _both_ holes..."

"Kitsune!"

"Alright alright," she relented, shutting the box and replacing it in the hole. She then switched the picture back to covering it again. "Now then, let's just finish the laundry and worry about the hole later, ok?" she asked. Shinobu thought for a moment and then nodded. And so Kitsune quickly put the last of the laundry in before leaning over to flip the switch…just in time for Shinobu to have a horrible realization.

"Wait Kitsune! That hole is where the pipes should-"

Water started shooting from the hole.

"-be."

Keitaro looked around at Su's room and let out a whistle. "All of it?" he asked turning toward his young companion. Su nodded.

"Yep."

"You sure?"

"Yep."

"Well," said Keitaro pushing up his sleeves, "let's get started."

A/N: _Sigh. I'd been hoping to have Motoko come home this chapter, but decided against it for length constraints. Not that 4500 words is that long a chapter mind you, but I decided there was enough Motoko stuff for an entire chapter of its own._


	7. NOTE

I've decided to allow Uatu to adopt my story. Actually that's not completely true; I don't know when or if I'll ever come back to this story so I'm letting Uatu post and finish it while keeping it up on my account as well, in case I ever get the urge to write again.


End file.
